MAPUTO AND MALABO DECLARATION VERSUS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA

Agriculture is the mainstay of several economies as it provides employment and source of livelihood for many. It has over time contributed significantly to the GDP of different nations and remains a potent tool for national development. Considering the vital role of agriculture in combating hunger and food insecurity, several policies have been enacted to boost productivity and foster the growth of the sector.

On 11 July 2003, African leaders in a meeting at Maputo, Mozambique made significant decisions to help the continent halt hunger by addressing food insecurity cycle. The meeting concluded with several resolutions and prominent amongst them was “commitment to the allocation of at least 10 percent of national budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development within five years.”^[1] This resolution was further reiterated at the African Union assembly held in June, 2014 at Equatorial Guinea in Malabo.

A 2021 report of the Food and Agricultural Organisation revealed that on average, many of the  sub-Saharan African countries spent around 6 percent of national budgets on food and agriculture, with Malawi being the only country that consistently met the 10 percent Maputo Declaration. Mali however in some years achieved the Maputo Declaration in the 2004–2018 period. Although, countries like Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda made some increment in their budget for Agriculture, yet this was far less than the Maputo/Malabo declaration threshold^[2]. In the same vein, Nigerian Agricultural sector performance review shows that Nigeria is performing less than expectation^[3]. For example, in 2017, the budgetary allocation to Agriculture was 1.70% and rose to 2.00% in 2018. However, in 2019, the allocation to Agriculture dropped to 1.56% and 1.34% in 2020. Similarly, the budgetary allocation to agriculture was 1.37 percent in 2021 and 1.8 percent in 2022^[4].

Undoubtedly, the under-performance of the agricultural sector in the African continent cannot be disconnected from the limited investment in the sector. Therefore, it is pertinent that declarations like that of Maputo and Malabo, are followed with appropriate policy implementation strategies that can aid its actualization. These implementation strategies should be country specific and be time bound. Efforts should be made to collaborate with relevant organization like PiLAF (Innovation Lab for Policy Leadership in Agriculture and Food Security) for policy design, adoption, implementation, evaluation and reform. PiLAF has the core objective to influence the agricultural policy process through research, capacity development and effective collaboration with all stakeholders along the agri-food system.

REFERENCES

^[1] https://www.fairplanet.org/editors-pick/tracking-the-maputo-declaration-fifteen-years-on/

^[2] Pernechele, V., Fontes, F., Baborska, R., Nana, J. C. N., Pan, X., & Tuyishime, C. (2021). Public expenditure on food and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. In Public expenditure on food and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4492en

^[3] Olomola, A. S., & Nwafor, M. (2018). Nigeria agriculture sector performance review. Agriculture Joint Sector Review.

^[4] https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-news/490001-nigerias-agric-spending-plan-highest-in-four-years-but-still-far-below-au-benchmark.html