World Food Day: NGO Urges FG to Implement Maputo, Malabo Declarations

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Food Day, the Association of Small-Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN),a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, accord farmers the much-needed recognition by implementing both the Maputo and Malabo declarations of 2010 and 2014 respectively towards improving the country’s agriculture for sustainable development.

The association also observed that small-scale farmers have been facing challenges in accessing and benefiting from government agricultural policies and practices despite the fact that they are the majority, accounting for over 80 per cent in the country.

The National President of ASSAPIN, Hajiya Amina Bala Jibrin, who made the call in an interview with THISDAY in Bauchi on Sunday to mark the occasion, lamented the dwindling activities in the agriculture sector at both the states and federal levels.

According to her, this was necessitated by government inability to implement the declarations.