BREAKING: Senate Passes Bill To Establish Agric Development Fund

The Senate on Wednesday considered and passed for third reading a Bill which seeks to establish National Agricultural Development Fund.

The report on the Bill titled: “National Agricultural Development Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2021” was presented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

Adamu in his report said the purpose of the fund is to provide financial support for strategic aspects of agricultural development of Nigeria.

According to him, the Bill seeks to promote and provide for finance to support agriculture development in the country in order to ensure food production and food security in Nigeria.

He noted that it was an already acknowledged fact that the major bane of agricultural sector in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa was inadequate funding.

He added: “To date, Nigeria is yet to fully implement the 2003 Maputo declaration on Agriculture requiring states, parties to allocate ten per cent of its national budget for agricultural development.

“If this was done, agriculture research and development, food production and food security would have witnessed a major leap.”