By Joshua Kato
In the recently read budget there is some growth in the actual amounts allocated to the agriculture sector, compared to previous years. In the 2022/23 budget, sh1 trillion was allocated to the sector out of a national bag of sh50 trillion.
This accounted for 3% of the national budget, indicating a decline of around 0.4%. Then in 2020/21, the allocation was about sh1.4 trillion; in the 2023/24 budget, sh1.4 trillion was allocated to the sector, which is about 3.8% of the total national budget; while in the 2024/25 budget, the fi gure has been raised to sh1.85 trillion. This is about 2.5% of the sh72 trillion budget.
There is also money that has been allocated to the Parish Development Model (PDM), which will indirectly have a positive impact on the agriculture sector too.
But still, the agriculture sector allocation remains low, compared to the 10% that was agreed upon under the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme/Malabo regional undertakings.
This declaration was made about 18 years ago by African Union countries in Malabo city, Equatorial Guinea, with an undertaking to allocate at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture.
This means that if the Malabo agreed figure of 10% was to be met, then agriculture should have had at least sh7.2 trillion out of the sh72 trillion.
If farmers are to benefit from this money, they pray that it is used effectively in priority areas. Let the implementers use the money purposefully.
