The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in partnership with other stakeholders, are strategising on the adoption of agricultural policy monitoring and impact on economy to boost the sector.
According to the agency, policy monitoring was meant to strengthen sustainable growth and development in the sector. The Director of Planning and Policy Coordination (DPPC) in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Tanimu Ibrahim, who disclosed this while declaring the policy workshop open in Abuja, said the adoption of the policy is relevant to the country’s accelerated economic growth and development.
He, therefore, commended FAO for undertaking the analysis, giving assurance that its outcome would be used to support President Bola Tinubu administration’s efforts at ensuring food and nutrition security in Nigeria.
Ibrahim said stakeholders are to share perspectives on policy outcomes of selected agri-produce and their impact on the economy. Besides the policy outcomes, he added that the policy option would optimise agriculture sector growth, job creation and food security in the country.
The stakeholders’ workshop was aimed at sharing the recent findings from FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agriculture Policies (MAFAP) programme,” he said, noting that it targets to strategically improve awareness of participants on key existing methods that can be employed in addressing issues in the sector.
The acting FAO Representative in Nigeria, Dominique Koffy Kouacou, said the aim of MAFAP is to bring out evidence-based policy options for improving the agricultural sector, by supporting the Federal Government to overcome the challenges of food security and malnutrition.
“We look forward to further engagements based on options revealed by the analysis carried out,” he said. Participants at the workshop included officers from the Bank of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, some Agriculture research institutes, development partners and other critical agencies on food security.
The Deputy Director of FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division, Dr. Marco Sanchez, in his presentation indicated that MAFAP had assisted countries in Africa and Asia to implement over 30 reforms since the programme started. He further indicated that in the case of Nigeria, the analysis revealed the topmost areas where investments could be increased.
“The boosting of investments in the agricultural sector, will remarkably improve food and nutrition security,” he said, adding that it will also raise job creation in the rural communities in the country.
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