CisaNet faults low agriculture budget

The Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet) has faulted the government for allocating less than 10 percent of the national budget to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Presenting the proposed 2024/25 budget in Parliament last Friday, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda allocated K497.75 billion to the ministry, representing 8.3 percent of the planned national expenditure.

However, commenting on the budget at a press conference in Lilongwe yesterday, CisaNet said Treasury should have matched or stretched beyond the Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation.

Agreed in 2014 in Equatorial Guinea, the declaration demands that the African Union countries allocate 10 percent of national budgetary resources towards the sector.

Reading a statement, CisaNet chairperson Hebert Chagona said: “For our country to realise the expected development in the sector, 10 percent would have been a minimum.

“The government would have made deliberate efforts to increase the allocation to at least 15 percent of the total national budget as this would help to accelerate ending hunger, halving poverty, and enhancing resilience to climate vulnerability.”

In his presentation, Chithyola Banda said the government’s priority is investing in irrigation infrastructure and mega farms across the country.

“The government is also investing in the Promotion of Mechanised Farm Operations by establishing hiring centres within the agricultural development divisions.

“To this end, eight machinery sets have already been procured,” he said.

But CisaNet expressed doubts that the allocation will match the targeted initiatives.

“We are yet to be convinced if the amount will be adequate for investing in irrigation infrastructure and mega-farms across the country.

“We are yet to appreciate how the allocated amount will sustainably invest in the promotion of mechanised farm operations,” Chagona said.

In the K5.98 trillion proposed national budget, health sector tops the list with K729 billion compared to K479 billion for agriculture.

Ironically, agriculture alongside tourism and mining are listed as priority areas in President Lazarus Chakwera’s transformation drive. Called ATM strategy, the government believes it can achieve food security, job creation and wealth generation by focusing on the three areas.