AIAE set for Research on Agric Funding

In the bid to find ways through which agricultural operations in the country can be effectively funded, the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) is putting in place research programmes on cost effective agricultural growth options for poverty reduction. The Institute will consult relevant government stakeholders and obtain their inputs to make the research more relevant and useful to policy making and programme planning.

The disclosure was made by the Executive Director, AIAE, Professor Eric Eboh r in Abuja  on January 21, 2010 at a seminar to herald the programme. At the event attended by stakeholders from Federal Universities, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal government parastatals, National Planning Commission (NPC), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) , USAID,and others. Professor Eboh stated that  agriculture sector has a critical role to play in poverty reduction in Nigeria , adding that seven out of ten farming households in Nigeria are living below the national poverty line and six out of ten poor households are farmers.

According to him, poverty reduction is both a legitimate and necessary social and economic imperative and a key developmental goal as reflected by Millennium Development Goal one (MDGs1), noting that “funding constraints necessitate judicious allocation of funds between competing agriculture sector programs”.

He noted that the study is necessary because, “The generic public funding constraint in every economy and in particular the competition for agricultural sector budget among sub sectors makes it necessary to prioritize agriculture commodities. However, in Nigeria, there is considerable arbitrariness and lack of systematic approaches in the allocation of funds in government agricultural programmes.The current “blind” approach to agriculture sector budgeting is inimical to efficient intra-sector resource allocation, as it does not ensure optimal returns to the use of public funds.”

The AIAE boss averred that the study, among others, would rank agriculture commodities according to their cost effectiveness in reducing poverty in each zone, saying presently, such information appears not to be available or utilized in the planning of agriculture programmes. He said knowledge guide for policymaking and programming results will help the Planning, Policy Analysis and Statistics (PPAS) department, the Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA), the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and international organizations involved in planning agriculture sector programs to make the greatest impacts using their limited funds.  

He disclosed  that the research would be most relevant  if given needed support in providing needed output, yield, expenditure and cost data, utilisation of the findings of the study by the relevant government agencies, communicating results and promoting their use and sustenance of  lines of communication and collaboration with relevant staff.