Senate okays establishment of Agricultural Development Fund

The Senate, on Wednesday, passed a bill seeking to establish the National Agricultural Development Fund.

This followed consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, chaired by Senator Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa West).

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Adamu, while presenting the committee’s report, explained that the purpose of the establishment of the Fund was to provide finance to support the strategic aspect of Agricultural Development in Nigeria.

He noted that Nigeria was yet to fully implement the 2003 MAPUTO Declaration on Agriculture requiring States Parties to allocate 10 per cent of its National budget to Agricultural Development.

“If this was done, Agricultural Research and Development, Food Production and Food Security would have witnessed a major leap,” Adamu said.

Adamu said the Fund was empowered to provide emergency support funding for Agricultural control access to finance trans-boundary animal disease outbreak; as well as support service through micro finance and collaborate with development partners to support food security and Agricultural modernization.