From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The Budget Committee Group of Kogi state in conjunction with ActionAid Nigeria has attributed food insecurity in the state to decrease in agriculture sector budgetary allocation.
The Group observed that agriculture Policy which is expected to focus and drive development of favourable and sustainable guidelines for the promotion of economic growth is absent in Kogi state.
This was contained in a communique issued by the Budget Committee Group (BCG) of Kogi state with support from ActionAid Nigeria at a day ‘Public Finance for Agriculture-Budget committee Advocacy (PFA-BCA) Summit’ held at New Age Modern Hall, Lokoja on Wednesday.
It was observed that the non release of funds to the sector has continued to impede the capacity of state government to drive socio economic development, including food security within the policy thrust of the diversification of the economy towards Agriculture.
“We cannot solve the insecurity problem in the society without solving the problem of food security and hunger as farms are being abandoned sue to security threats and natural disasters in the society.”
The communique therefore called on the state Executive and House of Assembly to scale up public investment in Agriculture and early passage of budget as a strategic approach to increase food production towards reduction of hunger and poverty in the state.
It was also recommended that the existing relationship between the state government and the non – state actors should be strengthened in a bid to promote accountability and transparency in public resource management.
The communique stressed the need for more gender responsive in the yearly Agriculture budget by providing line items for the implementation of the National Gender Policy in Agriculture that would address specific challenges affecting women farmers in the state.
