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Governor of Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu
At a one-day consultative meeting on the 2019 Ondo State Agriculture Budget in Akure on Tuesday, the organisations canvassed for more inclusiveness, especially among the smallholder women farmers.
The JDPC Chairman, Public Finance in Agriculture for Budget Committee (PFA), Chief Pius Akomolafe, said it was needful to facilitate more citizens’ inputs into the 2019 agriculture budget.
According to him, it would create ownership, linking and integration of programmes that would help achieve food security and wealth creation in Ondo State.
He bewailed that some challenges were still retarding the growth of the sector.
Such challenges include poor road network, inadequate funding and lack of land to engage in extensive commercial farming.
Others are insecurity of farmers owing to Fulani herdsmen invasion, lack of synergy among the value chain players, non-legislation of agricultural policy, and bottlenecks to accessing loans
“The process of procurement of funds for the fertiliser is arduous.
It is a known fact that agriculture is seasonal, hence where funds are not released on time, it may be impossible to achieve the desired goals, leading to such funds to be diverted at a later date.
“Overtime, there has been reduction in the number of times extension workers visit rural communities to update and mentor farmers in their farming activities,” he added.
