We must commend the effort of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for being able to host the 45TH meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) in partnership with Plateau state government through its agriculture ministry.
The occasion witnessed the approval of eighty six (86) memoranda being paper presentation for projects to be executed in the year 2022 agricultural programmes to achieve food security matters, and sufficiency to diversify economy into non oil sector as being anticipated by President Mohammadu Buhari for better sustainable economy of more job and wealth creation.
The lateness of hosting the event in the month of September is a subject for another day as the need to emphasize on the feedback from the previously approved resolutions especially from the immediate past edition held last year in Abuja is majorly our focus in this editorial.
It is on record to this effect that a resolution task team was set up at the last NCARD meeting held in National Conference Centre (NCC) Abuja, 2021 to ensure a well audited implementation performance of all approved memoranda, and to report back to the house for further appraisal. None of such is done in the recently held meeting in Jos which to our understanding may have negated the purpose at which the task force was conceived. Although the minister of Agriculture, Dr. Mohammd Abubakar tried to give justification to the achievement of the ministry to the food security programmes within the council resolutions in the past two years, but this to many stakeholders who had expected to hear detailed report is not sufficient to justify the feedback of the implementation progress where areas of strength and challenges would have been reported for future corrections in terms of tackling challenges.
Among the feedbacks expected to be discussed is the conduct of detailed national survey and soil fertility mapping nationwide in collaboration with the private sector, and the draft national agricultural extension policy to be domesticated at the state and local government levels.
The development and improvement of artisanal fishing in Nigeria especially Niger Delta states from unimproved subsistence level of fish production and several others were among expected to be reported back by the NCARD implementation task team. There are several others like the strategy of increasing domestic fish production, mitigating post harvest losses of fish produce and reducing fish importation, and national livestock census and e-registration to re-establish baseline for livestock production.
The support
for the climate resilience agricultural strategies and
public/private/partnership agro industry establishment among many others are
expected to get feedback, but which was never come to being for reasons not
best known to many in view of the four days meeting. Why we feel this feedback
should be accommodated in the council meeting is to give performance
measurement, and to serve as check to approval repetition of memo or programme
in agricultural activities as the case may be. It is very important this aspect
of activity is taken in the subsequent NCARD meeting for better articulation of
programmes and policies in agriculture for any year in view towards food
sufficiency and security.
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