Bauchi State government has been urged to bring reforms in agricultural policies and land use laws in order to increase farmers’ participation and productivity.
The call was made at a one day stakeholders Workshop on Agriculture Budget Priorities for Bauchi State Organized by OXFAM
The workshop was organised to ensure involvement of farmers in the development of implementation strategies to drive local ownership of agricultural interventions.
Speaking at the workshop, Bauchi State Chairperson, Association for Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Bala Jibrin sought for the engagement of relevant stakeholders to ensure accountability and impact of the agricultural policies at community levels.
She stressed the need for Bauchi state government to engage the Bank of Agriculture, Central Bank of Nigeria and the cooperative societies through robust advocacy for farmers to key into the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme.
Mrs. Jibrin said that, there is also the need to restructure the way funds are disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers and other agricultural intervention programmes.
The chairperson further suggested that the distribution of fertilizer should also be channeled through Ward Development Committees against the current system of the distribution.
She called on stakeholders to join hands towards inclusive agricultural development that will benefit farmers.
She therefore appealed to the State Ministry of Agriculture to work with Oxfam’s LINE project on knowledge sharing to understand how donor funded projects will reach farmers using communities’ own structures which will also ensure prompt repayments of loans.
In his address, OXFAM LINE project official, Mr. Samuel Lashen, said the workshop was organised as part of measures to prioritise the needs of farmers and other stakeholders to drive agricultural development in the state.
He tasked the state government to provide the required budgetary allocation to the sector and also look into the possibility of capturing the sector’s needs in its 2020 budget.
The Director, Planning and Research, State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Ayuba Isaya disclosed that the state government has outlined various policies to ensure agricultural development in the state.
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