…As FG allocates a paltry N110b to the same sector, but still lower than N404b budget allocation to Federal Ministry of Work and Housing.
MSMEsToday findings from various state governments budget for 2021 indicate that 25 states out of the 36 states will spend N197.8 billion on the agricultural sector in 2021. This is Just N87.8 billion higher than Federal government approved budget for the same sector this year.
The combination of the Federal government allocation to agricultural sector in 2021 with the 25states allocations to the same sector which is equivalent to N307.8 billion is still on the lower side when compare with budgetary allocation to Federal Ministry of Works and Housing during the period. In 2021 budget, a total of N404 billion was allocated to The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, translates to N96.2 billion higher than combined budget allocations of both 25 states and federal government to agricultural sector.
With the present clamoring of various tiers of governments and individual Nigerians on diversification of the economy from dependency on oil to other sectors especially, the agricultural sector should be given greater priority in budget allocation if government at both levels really means business in the coming years. MSMEsToday findings also show that the number of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises to migrate into agric business in 2021 will increase by more than 100% when compared with what the figure was in the previous years.
Further analysis show that, seven (7) states out the 25 states under consideration will accounts for more than 50% of the total budget allocations of the 25 states. The total budgetary allocations of the seven states to agricultural sector in 2021 is equivalent to N109.1 billion, which represents 55.16% of the total 25 states allocations and 99.2% of the Federal government allocation to the same sector during the period under review. The states include Katsina, Lagos, Sokoto, Rivers, Ogun, Bayelsa and Kaduna states.
Katsina states allocation of N20.99 billion to agricultural sector represents 7.42% of the total budget for the year under review, makes it the leading state in terms of budget allocation to agricultural sector. Lagos state occupied the second place with budget allocation of N18.31 billion to the sector. Next in magnitude to Lagos is Sokoto state with budget allocation of N17.91 billion to its agricultural sector during the period under review. Others include Rivers (N16.11 billion), Ogun (N15.00 billion), Bayelsa (N11.30 billion) and Kaduna state (N10.00 billion).
MSMEsToday finding shows that most of the states plan to spend the budget allocation on investment into agricultural value chain. For instance, Katsina state had been focusing on rehabilitation and upgrade of Dams like other states, agric inputs and creation of platforms for agribusinesses in the state to thrive. On the other hand, Lagos had been focusing on enhancing food security as one of the major take away from the coronavirus pandemic. Part of Lagos state efforts is the launching of agricultural five year master plan, establishment of the Lagos State Aquatic Centre of Excellence (LACE) under a PPP framework to boost fish production from 20% to 80% among others.
MSMEsToday can also infer, that from the 25 states budget allocations that only Sokoto state allocated more than 10% of its total budget for 2021 to the agricultural sector in compliance with 2003 Maputo declaration that mandated all African Union member countries to allocate at least 10% of their total annual budgets to agriculture which was done as one of the ways to increase food production and ensure food sufficiency in the continent.
