They made the appeal at the annual Stakeholders Consultative meeting on the 2026 Agriculture Budget on Friday in Lagos.
The meeting was aimed at expanding agricultural productivity and food security.
The meeting was organised by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Others are Community of Agricultural Non-State Actors (COANSA), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the ECOWAS Commission and the German International Cooperation (GIZ) Global Programme.
Mr Simon Okpe, Assistant Director, Budget, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, appealed to the government to assist agro rangers and local vigilantes to nip the current security challenges in the country in the bud.
Presenting a paper tagged “2024 and 2025 Agriculture Budget Performance in respect to releases, implementation, challenges and possible solutions,” he decried inadequate funding of the sector.
He emphasised that in spite of the enormous contributions of agriculture to national development, the sector`s budget over the years has been relatively low.
Okpe, however, pointed out notable achievements of the sector in spite of the funding constraints, among other challenges.
According to him, the sector continues to contribute sustainably to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 23 per cent to 29 per cent between 2015 to 2024.
Okpe specifically recommended that the government should support cluster farming in secured zones in order to boost agricultural production.
“Government should provide insurance and support packages for affected farmers as well as promotion of community peace-building efforts,” he said.
Dr Auwal Mohammed, Director, Economic Growth Department, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, said the meeting aligned with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Mohammed said the Medium-Term National Development Plan (NDP 2021 to 2025) and the National Agricultural Transformation and Innovation Plan (NATIP 2022 to 2027), prioritised expansion in agricultural productivity.
He said this is done through the increase in budgetary allocations at the national and sub-national levels.
According to him, such a priority will enable the country to achieve food security and job creation, especially in the rural areas, thereby lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
“For Nigeria to achieve food security, job creation and poverty reduction, we need to significantly increase national agricultural productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and ensure all year-round food production.
“There is also a critical need to strengthen value chain linkages by promoting local sourcing and value addition with backwards integration.
“To achieve this, we must dedicate significant resources to agriculture in line with the Malabo 2014 and Kampala 2025 declarations and commitments, “he said.
According to him, to achieve value for money and realise the goals of attaining food security, job creation and positive economic growth, the government needs to encourage private sector participation through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).
Mohammed said the meeting was specifically aimed at identifying the gaps and challenges that have hindered the agriculture sector from achieving its full potential.
“It seeks to facilitate more citizen inputs into the subsequent years’ budget for agriculture, both at national and sub-national levels, thereby creating ownership
“It also seeks to link and integrate programmes that will help Nigeria achieve food security, wealth creation, and deliverables within the continental Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) results framework, among others,” he said.
NAN/Oyenike Oyeniyi