SWOFON Seeks Budget Accountability As Anambra's Farm Spending Falls Below 1%

SWOFON Seeks Budget Accountability as Anambra’s Farm Spending Falls Below 1%

From Seun Miracle 

The Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Anambra State Chapter, has challenged the Anambra State Government to make agricultural budgets more transparent, traceable and responsive to the needs of women farmers, warning that participation in policymaking means little without visible investments on the ground.

The organisation made the call in Awka during the launch of its policy brief, Women Farmers: Voice to Action, where it also unveiled findings from the IBP–SWOFON Impact Assessment (2019–2025). The report examined six years of advocacy aimed at increasing women’s influence in agricultural budgeting and public policy.

SWOFON said the assessment reveals a mixed picture: while women farmers are now more involved in budget consultations and policy dialogue, government spending has not kept pace with their expectations, leaving critical agricultural services underfunded and poorly implemented.

One of the report’s major findings is the consistent decline in Anambra’s agricultural budget over the last five years.

According to the assessment, agriculture accounted for 2.03 per cent of the state’s approved budget in 2021. That figure fell to 0.59 per cent in 2025, representing less than one per cent of total public expenditure despite agriculture remaining a major source of livelihood for rural households.

SWOFON compared the trend with the African Union’s Maputo and Malabo Declarations, which encourage governments to dedicate at least 10 per cent of public expenditure to agriculture. While acknowledging that states use different budget classification systems, the organisation said the benchmark remains an important indicator of political commitment to food production and rural development.

The report argued that declining allocations ultimately weaken the capacity of government to expand extension services, improve irrigation, support mechanisation and increase access to quality inputs for smallholder farmers.

Beyond the shrinking budget, SWOFON said the more troubling issue is the gap between approved projects and actual spending.

The assessment showed that between 2021 and 2025, Anambra approved ₦10.97 billion for agricultural capital projects but released and spent only ₦3.21 billion, translating to a budget execution rate of 29.3 per cent.

According to the organisation, this means that more than two-thirds of planned capital investments failed to materialise during the period under review.

For women farmers, the consequences are practical rather than statistical. The report said low implementation has continued to limit access to improved seedlings, farm equipment, irrigation facilities, extension support, affordable agricultural credit, processing centres, storage infrastructure and market opportunities.

SWOFON noted that many rural women remain responsible for food production but receive only limited benefit from public agricultural investments because projects are either underfunded, delayed or insufficiently monitored.

Addressing journalists, the organisation said women farmers have demonstrated their willingness to engage constructively with government throughout the budget process, from community consultations to policy advocacy.

However, it insisted that genuine inclusion should be measured by outcomes rather than attendance at stakeholder meetings.

SWOFON therefore called on the Anambra State Government, the State House of Assembly, ministries, departments and agencies, local government councils and development partners to institutionalise women’s participation across the entire budget cycle, including planning, appropriation, implementation and evaluation.

The organisation urged government to convert priorities contained in the Women Farmers’ Charter into clearly costed budget lines with designated implementing agencies, identified project locations, implementation timelines and measurable performance indicators.

It said such an approach would make agricultural spending easier for citizens to track and would strengthen accountability for project delivery.

SWOFON also advocated a transparent monitoring framework that follows public funds from budget approval to release, expenditure and project completion.

According to the organisation, communities should be able to verify whether projects listed in government budgets are actually executed and whether intended beneficiaries receive the promised support.

It further recommended expanding women’s access to productive resources through transparent beneficiary selection for mechanisation services, irrigation schemes, extension programmes, land development initiatives, agricultural finance, storage facilities and market infrastructure.

While recognising interventions such as 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, SWOFON described such programmes as complementary rather than a substitute for sustained state investment.

The organisation maintained that durable improvements in food security and rural livelihoods will depend on consistent budgeting backed by effective implementation.

It added that organised women farmers are prepared to partner with government by monitoring projects, providing community feedback and promoting evidence-based accountability to ensure that every naira allocated to agriculture produces measurable impact.

SWOFON concluded that the next phase of agricultural reform in Anambra should no longer be about giving women farmers a seat at the table, but about ensuring their priorities are reflected in budgets, funded through government programmes and translated into tangible improvements in agricultural productivity and household incomes.