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  • 11 minutes ago
As the country prepares for the 2027 National Budget, agriculture stakeholders are calling for more than short term measures to strengthen the sector. Agriculture Consultant Riyadh Mohammed says greater continuity, land security and lower production costs are critical to building a stronger local food system.

TV6's Nicole M. Romany has the story.
Transcript
00:00Agriculture Consultant Riyad Mohamed says agriculture needs a long-term national plan
00:06with programs maintained across changes in governments so young people entering the sector
00:12have a clear pathway to develop their skills and build careers in farming.
00:17And I must bring up the point with the Yap program and the homestead program, the greenhouse
00:22program, the shade house, those things were not continued with full steam you know when the
00:28transitions in governments and a lot of students a lot of participants reached out on Syria and
00:33were going on and said I don't even know I don't work for the ministry um yes I work with
00:38the
00:38ministry on some cases no problem um but I can answer that question. He says land tenure remains
00:44another long-standing challenge for farmers and while the issue is now being addressed with support
00:51from the Food and Agriculture Association secure access to land remains critical to the sector's
00:58future given up with these nice car and the plots and the two acres is excellent as well that first
01:02step but if you do have that land tennis you put a land security down you can't get loans you
01:08can't
01:08get a farmer's badge if you do have irrigation access you can't produce food you know a proper drainage
01:12you'll get flooding basic access routes how you gonna reach the land basic farm security everything
01:17default pretty alasene. Mohamed tells the morning edition the upcoming fiscal package should be viewed as
01:24part of a longer term strategy for agriculture with the sector positioned not only to strengthen food
01:31security but also to create new opportunities for economic growth and foreign exchange. What I want
01:37to tell the country or the leaders um think about at least a five or ten year plan even if
01:44you're in
01:44office or you're not in office go with that in mind right so we are focused on a limited number
01:50of high
01:51demand commodities each year right focus on a few of them produce them at the export quality and the
01:57quantity and get them out of the country earn some usd for the country. Nicole M Romany TV6 News
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