The All Farmers Association Of Nigeria (AFAN) has called on the federal government to be serious with the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of agricultural policies while giving agricultural positions to solely experienced farmers in the sector.
The President of AFAN, Farouk Rabiu Mudi, made this call while speaking with journalists on the formation of an effective cabinet for the ministry of Agriculture, saying the new government should avoid bringing non-practicing farmers to spearhead the sector.
Mudi advised that the president shouldn’t concentrate only on the minister but should also look at the advisers that will give him viable advice on agriculture, adding that Nigeria can feed the whole of Africa if the land, water, and human resources available can be well utilized.
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He also called on the government to increase funding for agriculture, pointing out that agriculture needs more funding as a huge sector and warning that the new administration shouldn’t do like the past one, which provided little funding for the sector like a drop in the ocean.
He also asked the president to look into the comparative advantages of each state in terms of their potentials so as to empower the farmers in diversifying the economy from oil to agriculture and bringing the private sector to come and invest in agriculture.
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The AFAN boss called on the farmers and private sector to actively participate in the implementation of policies and give proper support to the plans and interventions of the government to solve many problems in agriculture in the country.
He, however, commended the agricultural policies formulated by the previous administration, describing them as excellent but lamenting that they lacked proper implementation, which is one of the areas he wants the new administration to work on.
