‘Agro sector biggest loser in devt budget’

The biggest loser in the development budget is the agriculture sector, according to an industry sources.
A senior agriculture officer who wished not to be identified called The National to say that this was because the Department of Agriculture and Livestock had failed to draw up guidelines for the use of the funding made available by Government.
“We cannot access the K100 million available from the funding made available for the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP),” the officer said.
He said there were many potential in the NADP and “it was so frustrating that DA was not up to date with the implementation part of the plan.
“Somebody must be held responsible, because it is so frustrating for many small holder projects.”
The same concern was raised by National Development Bank managing director Richard Maru during the budget lock-up. He blamed the bureaucrats for the delay in the implementation of the NADP.
Mr Maru said more than enough money was allocated in the 2007 Budget and the Supplementary Budget.
However, they cannot be accessed for the NADP.