Kaka laments paltry allocation to agric by FG in 2014 Daily Independent Newspaper | Page 14. Monday, March 17th, 2014. By: Segun Adeleye and Laide Raheem, Abeokuta. Senator representing Ogun East, Adegbenga Kaka, has described the N66 billion the Federal Government earmarked for agriculture in this year’s budget as “paltry” despite the potential inherent in agriculture. He said such amount cannot be enough for rural road construction in two states let alone agriculture. Kaka, who is the Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Agriculture, stated this at the weekend during the foundation laying of fish processing centre organised by the Fish Export Development Association (FEDA) at fish export project complex, Eriwe farm village in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. He lamented that the Federal Government has reduced the money to be spent on agriculture in 2014 from N81 billion in 2012 and N79 billion in 2013 respectively, saying such reduction will never augur well for the development of agriculture as being campaigned by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. While bemoaning government’s neglect towards sustainable agricultural development, the Senator commended Fish Export Development Association for conceiving the novel idea of a fish processing plant. According to him, the fish processing plant was to be constructed 26 years ago while he was Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture but that it was abandoned due to paucity of fund. He, however, called on the technical partners of the project to ensure they contribute their technical know-how to help the project meet international best practices. Kaka informed the gathering that agriculture processing zone bill he sponsored in the National Assembly over a year ago was during the week tabled for First Reading. “This bill I just talked about is to provide legal framework on our agricultural policies. “And if this bill is passed into law, its implementation will ensure that all government’s programmes and policies on agriculture can be sustained and continued by successive governments.” “Similarly, it will help in arranging players in agric sector into cluster groups for easy access to fund and technical expertise. ‘This, I am sure will prevent capital flight to abroad and then provide thousands of jobs for our youths,” Kaka submitted. Earlier, chairman of the occasion, Oba Yinusa Adekoya, the Dagburewe of Idowa, explained that decision by Ijebu Development on Poverty Reduction (IDPR) necessitated the establishment of Eriwe farm village. He urged the would-be users of the infrastructure when completed to produce world class smoke fish, while appealing to government to provide access to fund by the farmers so that the dream of setting up the fish processing centre will not be defeated. dailyindependentnig/2014/03/kaka-laments-paltry-allocation-to-agric-by-fg-in-2014/
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:42:16 +0000
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