In his audit report on the Management of the “Cotton” Input Subsidy, performance carried out in 2019, the Auditor General, Samba Alhamdou BABY, made recommendations after his Performance Audit for the Agricultural Campaigns 2015-2016, 2016- 2017 and 2017-2018 in order to correct the malfunctions observed and hope for better administrative and financial management. Several years later, players in the sector still seem reluctant to implement one of the essential changes. Indeed, it appears that “the Minister in charge of Agriculture has not taken any measure to create and make operational the Technical Unit responsible for monitoring the subsidy of agricultural inputs”. Should we believe in a suspicious attitude at this level?
The cotton sector alone benefited from the Government’s share of the “cotton” input subsidy for a total amount of 75,349,626,942 CFA francs; i.e. 41,631,676,685 FCFA in 2018-2019; 23,721,047,000 CFA francs in 2019-2020; and 9,996,903,257 CFA francs in 2020-2021.
The performance audit of the management of the “cotton” input subsidy, carried out in 2019, revealed shortcomings which were the subject of recommendations formulated and addressed to the Ministry of Rural Development (MDR), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), to the National Directorate of Agriculture (DNA), to the Malian Company for the Development of Textiles (CMDT), to the Office of the Upper Valley of Niger (OHVN), to the National Committee of Fertilizers (CNE) and the Regional Directorate for Social Development and Solidarity Economy (DRDSES).
According to the auditor, the cotton input subsidy contributes not only to increased productivity, but also to the motivation of farmers to engage more in cotton growing. In light of the foregoing, the Auditor General has initiated this mission to follow up on the said recommendations.
In the follow-up report on the recommendations made public on March 16, 2023, the auditor’s office found that of the 24 recommendations made by the initial mission, 12 have been fully implemented; two are partially implemented; and one is not implemented.
In addition, nine are deemed not applicable (obsolete or not applicable).
For the Office of the Auditor General, the level of overall implementation of the recommendations is satisfactory.
However, it has been established that the Minister in charge of Agriculture has not taken any measures to create and make operational the Technical Unit responsible for controlling the subsidy of agricultural inputs.
While the country is facing a scandal linked to the failure of the previous campaign despite the announcement of an envelope of more than 50 billion francs by the government, the refusal to set up such a very important structure for the Transparency in the management of inputs is likely to call into question the good faith of the actors.
By Abdoulaye OUATTARA