The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri has said that the establishment of the Community of Practice ( CoP) by the ministry will enhance strategic priorities and ensure effective policy implementation of Agricultural policies and programmes across the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT.
He also stated that the CoP initiative would be vested with the oversight responsibility for ensuring effective policy implementation in the agricultural sector in line with policy best practices.
The Minister made this known during the Inaugural meeting of the Community of Practice (CoP), for State Commissioners of Agriculture, held at the Chida International Hotel, Jabi District, Abuja on Thursday 24th March, 2022.
Hon. Shehuri stated that though the ‘’National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) is the highest policy making body for Agriculture and Rural Development in the country, the absence of a definitive follow-up of decisions taken during the yearly NCARD meeting contributes to policy inconsistency and perennial policy failure in the sector’’.
He stressed the need for a complementary body such as CoP as a support for the effective and efficient interaction and a close monitoring of agricultural policy process as decided by NCARD has arisen.
He added that ‘’the Ministry has the mandate to ensure food security in crops, livestock and fisheries, stimulate agricultural employment and services, promote the production and supply of raw materials to agro industries, provide markets for the products of the industrial sector, generate foreign exchange and aid rural socio-economic development’’.
The Minister further said that ‘’in pursuit of these mandates, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has over the years articulated and implemented numerous agricultural policies, programmmes and projects.
Successful programming and implementation of the previous policies can be attributed to a robust multi-stakeholder engagements between the national, state and local institutions established for agricultural development’’.
Shehuri noted that ‘’the Agriculture CoP forum is being established to aid effective and efficient delivery of the Ministry’s mandate by providing a common platform for the planning and implementation of agricultural policies, programmes and plans across the 36 States of the Federation and FCT’’.
He added that, ‘’this forum is established for regular collaboration to discharge our mandate for the overall economic development of the country’’.
He informed that ‘’ the present administration is committed to the diversification of the nation’s economy and has made the development of the agricultural sector a top priority. Despite global challenges, the sector at present is witnessing an unprecedented and consistent growth following its revival and gradual transformation since 2015’’.
He stated that ‘’for us to sustain the achievement in the Agricultural sector, it requires strong knowledge bases that should be constantly updated. It further expendiently that we all work together in order to develop innovative ways for solving different problems of the agricultural sector to achieve a common goal’’.
The Minister urged the commissioners to use the opportunity under the platform to showcase their achievements and share experiences for the development of sound and viable agricultural policies for the country.
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, stated that ‘’the CoP forum is expected to bring together all key players in the Agricultural Sector from the Federal and State Governments, Development Partners and Non-state Actors.
The forum entails regular and stronger collaboration, sharing of information, skills improvement and to actively deepen the general knowledge of members with a view to sharing experiences and institutionalization of best practices amongst relevant stakeholders’’.
Dr. Umakhihe added that ‘’the overall coordination of CoP will be undertaken by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as Chairman with membership drawn from State Honourable Commissioners for Agriculture/Rural Development and other relevant state and non-state actors. I will serve as the Secretary of this forum and supported by the Planning and Policy Coordination Department as Secretariat.
The Secretariat will be capacitated with the facilities for keeping the records of meetings and for supporting and reporting on the activities of this forum. Members are expected to meet every two (2) months on rotational basis in the states’’.
He explained that ‘’ Structurally, Agriculture CoP will be addressed as Community of Practice for State Honourable Commissioners of Agriculture/Rural Development. Membership of the CoP at the Federal level is composed as follows; Honourable Minister of Agriculture as Chairman, Permanent Secretary( FMARD ) Secretary, State Commissioners of Agriculture and Dev. Partners/NGOs/Non-State Actors as Members ‘’.
In his goodwill message, the country Representative of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Nigeria, Fred Kafeero stated that “the unique advantage of CoP is that it is composed of the highest decision makers in Agriculture in the country and as such will be effective for regular interaction and knowledge sharing amongst them”.
He added that” this CoP will facilitate the seamless and effective collaboration and partnership between us and the government agencies both National and Sub-national levels and for effective implementation of the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) and other key Agricultural initiatives also at National and Sub National levels “.
Speaking on the Overview of Community of Practice (CoP) for State Commissioners for Agriculture, Country Director, Actionaid, Ene Obi emphasised the importance of collaboration between the Ministry, state government and other relevant Stakeholders towards achieving a single objective in the Agriculture sector.
She also thanked the Ministry for demonstrating the political will and commitment by setting up the CoP for State Commissioners of Agriculture to foster a robust collaboration and Synergy between the Ministry and State Ministries of Agriculture.
