Involve farmers in new agric policy, Amina tells govt

From Ahmad Mohammed, Bauchi

The Bauchi State Chairperson of the Association for Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria, Mrs Amina Bala Jibrin has advised government at all levels to ensure the involvement of farmers in the development of an implementation strategy for their new Agricultural policy in order to drive local ownership.
Amina stated when she addressed journalists on the outcome of a One-day Workshop on Agriculture Budget Priorities for Bauchi State Organized by OXFAM in the state. She sought for the engagement of relevant stakeholders as part of remedy to ensure mutual accountability and impact of the Agricultural policy is felt at the community level.
Amina stressed the need for the Bauchi state government to engage the Bank of Agriculture, Central Bank of Nigeria and the cooperative societies on the availability of Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme in the state by advocating directly to the financial institutions on restructuring the way funds are disbursed under the programme.
The chairperson suggested for the distribution of fertilizer through Ward Development Committees against the current system of the distribution, and called on stakeholders to join hands towards inclusive agricultural development that will be of huge benefit to farmers.
She appealed to the State Ministry of Agriculture to work with Oxfam’s LINE project on knowledge sharing to understand how the donor funded projects is able to reach farmers in a depoliticized manner and using communities own structures to record much higher repayment of rates.
Amina said that the state was in dire need of a review of land management policies, enjoined the state government to enforce laws for the protection and preservation of grazing reserves and cattle routes to ensure that animals graze peacefully.
Mr Samuel Lashen of the OXFAM LINE project in the state, said the workshop was organized as part of measures to prioritize agricultural needs of farmers and tasked governments to provide the required budgetary allocation to the sector.
He also appealed to the state government to look into the possibility of capturing the needs of farmers in its 2020 budget to assist them to develop their farming activities.
On his part, the Director, Planning and Research, State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Ayuba Isaya pledged the readiness of the present administration in the state to come up with policies for agricultural development.