An Agricultural Economics expert and former APC senatorial aspirant, Prof Philips Nto, has advocated an increase in budgetary allocation to agriculture by states and local governments to enhance food production.
He said now that there is an increased allocation to the two tiers of government, from the FAAC,the states and local governments should allocate a minimum of 30% of their budget to agriculture
Nto, a former Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning in Abia State, spoke to journalists ahead of World Food Day, which theme is INNOVATE TODAY, NOURISH TOMORROW.
He said that apart from the increased budgetary allocation to agriculture, the government should promote local production through various incentives such as the distribution of improved seed ,fertiliser, new technologies, and training and retraining of farmers.
According to him, the government should also ensure adequate security to farmers and the rural communities against banditry and kidnapping so as to increase food production.
Prof Nto, who is also a former Provost of Abia State College of Education, Technical, Arochukwu, further urged govenors to ensure that they deploy CNG and electric buses to rural areas for evacuation of farm produce so as to cut down the prices of food stuff which is rising daily.
“I sincerely believe that if these measures are put in place by the states and local governments, there will be an increase in food production which in turn will bring about reduction in food prices ‘, Prof Nto declared.
The public affairs analyst and former World Bank Consultant further suggested that agricultural development banks should grant concessionary loans to real farmers to help them improve yields.
He said such an improvement could come by way of promoting rural infrastructure or to enhance local processing and value addition.
Prof Nto enjoined researchers in Nigerian universities and institutes to make their research available to rural farmers through training and retraining.
He noted that the time has come for Nigeria to embrace new technologies in food production as against the old ways of crude farming methods.
