In an effort to address the policy gaps in agricultural extension service delivery towards improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Bauchi and Gombe states, agriculture policymakers converged in Jos, the Plateau State capital to brainstorm on the way forward.
The one-day policy dialogue is part of the Together Against Poverty (TAP) project, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with support from Oxfam, with the aim of advocating towards promoting fairer and more resilient food systems that improve the livelihoods of women and men small-scale producers in the two states
Speaking at the event, the executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, said with a new administration underway, they believe engagements with relevant returning and incoming state actors are imperative.
Represented by CISLAC programme manager, Chinedu Bassey, the executive director, said the engagements would re-emphasize the importance of commitments and adequate responses/actions towards the adoption and implementation of policies and practices, as well as increasing citizen engagement, particularly women small-scale producers , with policymakers.
“As you are aware, we have conducted several engagements across both states towards advancing opportunities for the effective implementation of agricultural development programmes, including the adoption and adaptation (domestication) of the National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) as a veritable mechanism for improving the delivery/provision of agricultural extension services to smallholder women and men farmers (SHFs).
“This also includes improving budgetary allocations to support effective and sustainable implementation of policies, programmes and extension services to women and men small-scale producers in both Bauchi and Gombe states.
“As part of efforts towards the above, this meeting specifically seeks to review national and state-specific policies and programmes, to identify state-specific challenges that limit the full actualisation of policy interventions on extension service delivery towards optimisation of farm outputs in the states;
“To also identify opportunities in leveraging legal and policy frameworks that could effectively contribute to addressing the identified gaps/challenges in advancing extension service delivery for smallholder farming in the state and harvest an agenda for operationalising commitments from state representatives here today.
“The above are of particular interest to us, particularly in light of the fact that the NAEP seeks amongst other objectives to adopt and promote a gender, youth and people with special needs (PWSN) responsive agricultural extension system through the adoption and promotion of measures that will enable ready access to extension services by these groups and the implementation of a minimum of 35 per cent women access to agricultural extension eervices,” he said.
In his remarks, the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, said the best way to tackle poverty is to tackle it from the grassroots, and that most people at the grassroots are farmers.
Suleiman, who is also the chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, explained that if measures could be put in place to address farmers’ challenges, it would enhance food security and tackle poverty by extension in the country.
He promised to pursue legislation that would boost farming activities and the lives of farmers, adding that the legislature has a vital role to play in this.
On his part, the acting programme manager of Gombe State Agricultural Development Programme, Maina Jonathan Awan, said Gombe State farmers had enjoyed good support from their state governor, and that the governor holds agriculture in high esteem.
Awan, who represented the permanent secretary, said that through government’s intervention in agriculture, the state has experienced tremendous growth in the sector, including eliminating farmers-herders clashes over four years ago.
