By Palma Ileye
In continued effort to strengthen food and nutrition system in the country, the Federal Government has inaugurated the Agricultural Sector Working Group, ASWG, to achieve this feat.
The inauguration and inception meeting of the Agricultural Sector Working Group, ASWG, which was jointly organised by ActionAid Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, FMAFS, is also aimed to drive the implementation of Agrifood System Transformation in Nigeria, as resolved by the African Union Heads of State.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, FMAFS, Senator Abubakar Kyari stated that the formation of the Agricultural Sector Working Group, ASWG, aligns with the broader African Union Heads of State’s resolution on agri-food system transformation, which aims to enhance food security, nutrition, and sustainable agricultural development across the continent.
Kyari noted that Member States, including Nigeria, were expected to align their national priorities with this vision to ensure a resilient and thriving agricultural landscape.
He said that achieving this goal required continuous engagement with critical stakeholders to foster innovative solutions, strengthen collaboration, and effective policy formulation.
He informed that the forum brings together six key stakeholder groups in the agricultural sector namely; the public sector, the private sector, research institutions, farmer organizations, civil society organizations, and development partners who collectively shape the trajectory of agriculture in the nation.
According to him, “Through structured dialogue and shared expertise, we can ensure that our policies, programs, and projects are tailored to meet both the current and future challenges in agriculture and food security. Given Nigeria’s pivotal role in the global agricultural ecosystem, it is imperative that we establish a sustainable and structured platform that not only tracks our performance but also actively explores alternative strategies to bridge existing gaps.
“I hereby inaugurate the Agricultural Sector Working Group, ASWG, who will be meeting quarterly to appraise the performance of the sector, identify the gaps, and as well as preferring alternatives to drive the sustainable growth and development of the sector. The Agricultural Sector Working Group will serve as this critical mechanism, providing a forum for monitoring progress, enhancing accountability, and mobilizing collective action towards the achievement of our shared agricultural goals.
“Together, we will work towards fulfilling the following key responsibilities: One, providing advisory services and policy initiatives to guide the sustainability, growth, and development of the sector in Nigeria. Two, facilitating the implementation of the resolutions of the African Union Heads of State on agri-food system transformation in line with the 2025 Kampala Declaration in the country. Three, strengthening strategy and inter-sectoral linkages in the implementation of the projects and program on agri-food system transformation in the country.
“Four, exploring funding windows to leverage on the potential in the agricultural sector across crop, livestock, fisheries, and forestry sub-sectors. Five, coordinating a solution-driven approach to address emergencies as well as policies intervention in the agricultural sector when the need arises. Six, capturing and analyzing comprehensive agricultural data, bi-annual review, as mentioned by the representative of the ECOWAS Commission, to inform evidence-based policy and decision making.”
He also urged the group to uphold the principles of inclusiveness, transparency, prioritization, and partnership for collective agri-food system transformation in the country adding that this development will require constant disposition to aligning interests, harmonizing interventions, and pooling resources for the effective implementation of policies, programs, and projects across the nation.
On his part, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Economy, Mr. Wale Edun noted that the African Union Assembly had voiced concerns about the continent’s slow progress, noting that it was not on track to meet the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program, CAADP’s Malabo Declaration on Goals and Targets by 2025.
Edun said that this concern, along with emerging threats to the African agri-food system, led to the development of this post-Malabo agenda that was discussed in Kampala in January this year.
He said, “And we all know that one of the key objectives of His Excellency Mr. President is in line with his commitment to food production, food security, and indeed the making available and making affordable food in Nigeria. In looking at the CAADP strategy and action plan, I’d like to make a comment regarding that action plan which is meant to span 10 years from 2026 to 2035.”
He said that given the long time horizon, many risks and uncertainties could affect the positioning of the agri-food system’s transformation agenda to deliver on its goals.
“There are external socio-economic, environmental, and other shocks that may come up which demand that the strategy should be flexible, agile, and adaptable enough to respond to such unforeseen circumstances. We all know that lurking is the issue of climate change and climate events, which is a big part of what could be unforeseen developments,” he explained.
Therefore, he said that there was need for institutional adaptation to changes in a complex and rapidly changing context noting that major risks and uncertainties need to be identified and outlined together with their respective mitigation actions. So overall, this particular agricultural sector working group has its work cut out.
“It has to work with the development partners to efficiently implement the post-Malabo agenda for food security and food production in Africa. In Nigeria, we are similarly focused, led by the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security.
“We are focused on ensuring that the agricultural sector value chain is fully developed, that it is financed, that access to finance is provided at all levels of agricultural production, the smallholders, as well as the large-scale, even mechanized farmers.
“And likewise, the market environment in which they operate. We are looking at structural changes, looking at the way the agricultural sector is administered, the various incentives, the tariff levels, the levies, and so on and so forth, in order to ensure that we increase agricultural production by increasing, particularly amongst the smallholders, but in general, increasing agricultural productivity.
“We need to increase the yields as a way of making sure that we have enough food produced in Nigeria, not just for Nigeria, but for even exports of value-added production to neighboring countries,” he further explained.
He also pledged his Ministry’s commitment to providing every support to ensure that they deliver on their all-important mandate.
Meanwhile, Action Aid Nigeria, Food and Systems Specialist, Azubike Nwokoye, stressed on farmers access to loans saying that in a survey with small-holder women farmers across Nigeria, before the issue of insecurity that was rampant, there was lack of access to credit.
He harped on the issue of having another source of funding for the agriculture sector, which was the National Agricultural Development Fund as it have taken off on a good note, also commending the N1.5 trillion that was approved for the recapitalization for the Bank Of Agriculture.
He assured that Action Aid will also assist the platform in bringing salient information, gauging interventions for effectiveness.
“Because at times, in terms of government service delivery, at times it might not be a government problem. It might be the private sector that has been contracted.
“For example, in the growth enhancement support scheme, when interventions were being done, when we started discussing with farmers and communities, we were discovering that the growth enhancement support scheme was working in some places, while in some other places they were shortchanging the farmers by giving them adulterated seeds, adulterated fertilizers, seeds that were not germinating. And even in some cases, collecting extra money and saying it is part of the transport. And then we had to flag that.
“And we are hoping to be part of this success as we work together in this technical working group to make sure that the agricultural sector is up and doing as we want it.
“We are happy to be part of this process. We will also be doing a lot, especially working with the grassroots because we are a grassroots organization,” he added.
Also, October 30th was set as the date for the next meeting of the ASWG.
