The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that farmers are actively involved in policy decisions aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and strengthening national food security.
Mr Eniola Akindele, Manager, Research, Data and Impact Assessment at the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU), said this on Tuesday in Kano.
Akindele spoke at the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Programme (AGROW) Agroecological Zonal Workshop in Kano.
He said the current administration through the PFSCU, was working to ensuring that agricultural interventions were farmer-driven, market-focused and result-oriented, rather than imposing through top-down approaches.
According to him, AGROW focused on key value chains, such as rice, wheat, tomato, sesame and sorghum, which are critical to Nigeria’s food security and economic growth.
He said AGROW was a 500-million-dollars home-grown initiative led by Nigeria, co-created across the three tiers of government.
“It is further developed in partnership with the private sector and development partners, with technical support from the World Bank, ” he said.
Akindele noted that previous agricultural interventions were constrained by fragmented public spending, blanket input subsidies, government-driven programmes, opaque and paper-based land administration systems, as well as multiple informal trade levies.
He explained that the AGROW model introduced a new approach centred on state-level agricultural support; and financial assistance linked to market outcomes.
According to Akindele, the programme also targeted public investments; institutionalised private sector engagement; transparent and secure land administration; and efficient and predictable interstate agricultural trade.
He added that AGROW was built on three major components: strengthening private sector linkages with smallholder farmers; modernising on-farm production systems; and effective project coordination, monitoring and evaluation.
Akindele outlined the eligibility criteria for states seeking to participate in AGROW, which include sustainable land-based investment processes, digital farmer registries, increased transparency of fees and levies for interstate trade.
In his remark, the Permanent Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Bashir Sunusi, said the workshop aligned with the State Government’s agenda of improving agricultural productivity.
Sunusi said the state government had recruited 1,038 agricultural extension workers; provided farming equipment including tractors and power tillers; and established three mechanisation centres in Gaya, Dambatta and Kadawa.
Participants were drawn from Sudan Savannah agroecological states of Sokoto, Katsina, Gombe, Kebbi, Bauchi and Kano states.
