Chief Alaba Lawson, the National President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture gave recommendations to the government on how to improve the agricultural sector.
The recommendations includes, the need to invest and embrace new machinery, seedlings, agro-services; fight corruption in the agricultural sector; early passage of budget;
It further includes: setting up of a project implementation and monitoring committee and for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to come up with activities and blueprints that will enable private sector to provide the much-needed synergy and support for government policies.
Government needs to pass the budget at the right time so that everybody knows the direction of the market and what purchases to make.
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We must equally ensure that there is a monitoring process for project implementation because you cannot just put down policies, you have to monitor the implementation.
Chief Lawson said: “During the days of our forefathers, the Federal Government would invite them by the first week in September to come and make input into the budget of the following year. This meeting was called a pre-budget briefing”
She further said: “it’s high time the government put in place structures for the effective implementation of all policies towards the diversification and should not neglect agriculture for crude oil which has placed the Nigerian economy in its current situation”.
Alaba commended the government for the launch of the Agriculture Promotion Policy and other similar initiatives aimed at boosting agricultural sector.
