The executive branch in Nigeria has been encouraged by the Senate to guarantee that agricultural production receives at least 10% of the country’s annual budget revenue.
At the joint budget defence session of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on Monday in Abuja, Senator Salihu Mustapha (APC, Kwara), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Production, Services, and Rural Development, made the request.
According to Mustapha, the issues affecting the agriculture industry worry the Senate and House committees on Agriculture Production, Services, and Rural Development.
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He pointed out that, in spite of the difficulties, the sector continued to provide more than 20% of the nation’s GDP—more than any other non-oil sector.
He bemoaned the fact that the sector’s budgetary allotment was still significantly less than the 10% of the national budget that Nigeria had agreed to under the Maputo Declaration.
The biggest opportunity to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty and provide much-needed food security is found in the agriculture sector.
Therefore, it is essential that future budgets and national economic plans give the industry top importance.
Mustapha declared, “I, therefore, call on the executive to exercise the political will to allocate to the agriculture sector at least 10% of the national budgets and revenues.”
He declared that the budget defence procedure was sacred in addition to being crucial.
He stated that the 10th Assembly’s two chambers had shown they were prepared and willing to cooperate in order to quickly approve the 2024 budget.
