Reacting to the presidential broadcast over the #EndBadGovernment protest across the country, the Agbekoya Society of Nigeria, has urged President Bola Tinubu to monitor the distribution of grants and subsidies for agriculture to achieve the purpose.
The group, which is a parent body of the Agbekoya Farmers Association of Nigeria, said this in an open letter to Mr Tinubu on Sunday, following Sunday’s presidential broadcast over the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest.
The group’s president, Kamorudeen Okikiola, jointly signed the letter to the national secretary, Adegbenro Ogunlana.
As revealed in his broadcast, the group reacted to the federal government’s investments and other efforts to boost food production to address hunger, noting that many federal government’s agricultural programmes did not get to the grassroots.
The group said, “The Nigerian government has implemented various programmes and initiatives aimed at supporting the agricultural sector and empowering smallholder farmers.
“However, we have observed that the intended benefits of these programmes often do not reach the intended beneficiaries – grassroots farmers who form the backbone of our nation’s food production.
“Our members, who are primarily subsistence and small-scale farmers, have experienced significant challenges in accessing grants, subsidies and other forms of support that have been made available.”
It added, “This is due to lack of transparency, accountability and effective monitoring mechanisms in the distribution process.”
The group advised the president to start monitoring the interventions for efficiency. The body said grassroots farmers were the true drivers of agricultural productivity in Nigeria and should not be left out of programmes designed to uplift them.
According to the group, for Nigeria to achieve food security, sustainable agricultural development and empowerment of rural communities, it is crucial to implement robust and transparent monitoring policies.
The body said that such a monitoring system should ensure that agricultural grants and subsidies would reach the intended beneficiaries. It called for establishing a comprehensive database of registered Nigerian smallholder farmers with detailed information on their land holdings, crops, and other relevant details.
The group advocated a decentralised and community-based agricultural grants and inputs distribution system. The group also called for the development of the capacities of extension workers and local government agricultural officers to monitor the distribution of grants and inputs effectively.
The society also called for introducing a grievance-redressing mechanism where farmers could report irregularities or misappropriation of agricultural support.
