Anambra Women Farmers Flag Declining Agricultural Allocation

The Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), an Anambra-based agricultural interest group, has raised concern over a decline in the state's agricultural budget, warning that it threatens sustainable support for smallholder farmers.

The group noted that Anambra's agricultural budget allocation fell from 2.03 per cent in 2021 to 0.59 per cent in 2025.

This was disclosed by Mrs Rosemary Onwuegbuka, SWOFON Coordinator in Anambra East Local Government Area, at a news conference in Awka held to present the "Voice to Action" policy brief and findings from the IBP-SWOFON Impact Assessment, which covered the period from 2019 to 2025.

"According to the assessment, Anambra approved N10.97 billion for agricultural capital projects between 2021 and 2025 but recorded actual expenditure of only N3.21 billion, representing 29.3 per cent implementation. The low level of budget execution is as concerning as the declining allocation, particularly for women farmers who depend on public agricultural services and infrastructure. Inadequate funding and implementation continued to constrain access to improved seeds, mechanisation, irrigation, extension services, finance, processing facilities and markets," she said.

Onwuegbuka noted that while women farmers had gained greater access to budget and policy discussions in recent years, that participation had yet to translate sufficiently into measurable investment and improved service delivery. She urged the Anambra State Government to convert women farmers' priorities into clearly identifiable, costed budget lines, complete with defined implementing agencies, locations, timelines and delivery targets.

"We are calling for greater transparency in agricultural spending, including tracking funds from appropriation and release to expenditure and project completion, with benefitting communities able to verify delivery. Government should improve women farmers' access to productive resources, including land, mechanisation, irrigation, finance, storage and markets, through transparent beneficiary selection," she said.

She acknowledged the January 2026 distribution of knapsack sprayers by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to more than 50 farmer groups and cooperatives in Anambra, but said such interventions should complement, rather than substitute for, sustained state investment.

"We are ready to monitor projects and provide community feedback to strengthen accountability in agricultural spending. We, therefore, urge the state government, legislature, MDAs, local councils and development partners to institutionalise women farmers' participation throughout the budget cycle," she said.

Also speaking at the event, Mrs Georgina Akunyiba, SWOFON Coordinator in Anambra, said stronger budgetary commitments were essential to translating women farmers' participation into tangible improvements in food production and rural livelihoods. She stressed the need for transparent implementation of agricultural budgets to ensure resources earmarked for women farmers actually reached them and delivered the intended impact.