NGO charges government on agricultural supports
Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Gombe State chapter, has lamented how insecurity in north-eastern Nigeria has disrupted farming, agribusiness and means of livelihood of thousands of households.
In its 14-point communiqué, the group, after a stakeholders meeting recently, added that insecurity in the zone had negative impacts on food production.
The stakeholders meeting towards scaling up investment in agriculture was organised by Hope Foundation for the Lonely with support from Action Aid Nigeria.
The communique, signed by the chairman, Yusuf Atiku, urged the government to strengthen security mechanism “to mitigate crises in the region.”
It also asked state governments to ensure an increase in and implementation of 2022 agriculture budget.
“Gombe State government should ensure the implementation as budgeted in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, budgetary allocation for smallholder women farmers.
“The government should ensure easy access to credit facility at single digit interest rate to be made available to smallholder women farmers across the state.
“Federal and state governments should employ agricultural extension officers to train smallholder women farmers on Good Agricultural Practice,” it said, adding:
“There should be a steady and deliberate incremental commitment to Agriculture budget such that 10% of the Malabo commitment is achieved in the yearly budget.
“Gombe State government should promote policies that enable women farmers to have land ownership,” the communique added.
