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The Impact Of Agricultural Development On Nigeria Economic Growth (1980-2010)
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However, the 1967 to 1970 civil war in Nigeria coincided with the oil
boom era, which resulted in extensive exploration and exportation of
petroleum and its strong agriculture in favour of an unhealthy
dependence on oil (United States Department of state, 2005). Ever since
then, Nigeria has been witnessing extreme poverty
and insufficiency
of basic food items. The agricultural sector contributions now accounts
for less then 5% of Nigeria’s GDP (Olagbaju and Fashola, 1996). It is
against this backdrop that we set out to research on the impact of
agricultural development on Nigeria economic growth. As noted earlier,
the neglect of the agricultural sector and the dependence of Nigeria on a
mono-cultural crude oil based economy had not augured well for the
well-being of the Nigerian economy. It becomes therefore imperative to
study the impact of agricultural development on the Nigeria economic
growth. 1.2 Statement of Problem The agricultural sector has suffered
from years of poor management, inconsistent and poorly implemented
government policies, government neglect and lack of basic
infrastructure. Agriculture accounted for 30% of the GDP in 2010 (World
Factbook, January 9, 2012).
Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of
cocoa, groundnut, rubber and palm products. Coca production mostly from
obsolete varieties and over-aged trees are stagnant at around 150,000
tones annually. There is also a decline in groundnut, palm oil and other
major export crops (United States Department of State, 2005). The
decline in agricultural production was largely due to the rise of oil
shipments (A.B Sekumade 2009). Because of this backdrop, agriculture has
not kept up with the rapid population growth and Nigeria once a large
net exporter of for now imports most of its food requirements.
Dependence on oil is not only the cause of the under-development of the
Nigerian agricultural sector, but also:
1. The Nigerian agriculture
is characterized and surrounded by bunch of illiterate farmers who live
in rural areas, producing over 90% of the total food consumed and other
agricultural products and with regards to their educational status
giving little or no room for improvement through scientific research.
And
also more than 90% of the consumed food in Nigeria is provided by the
small-scale farmers.
2. The Nigerian agriculture lacks storage
facilities and these have led to so much wastage and high cost of
storage. This hinders the availability of source perishable agricultural
produce through the year, therefore hindering agricultural development.
3. Another negative force is Dependence on weather which affects the
increase in agricultural produce. Nigeria Agriculturists or farmers
still depend on rainfall only to produce instead of the use of
irrigation that supplies water all through the year.
4. The problem
of finance: The agricultural sector is poorly financed in Nigeria. They
do not get credit easily from financial institutions, like commercial
banks. The agriculturists find it difficult to finance projects which
are capital intensive. The commercial banks cannot grant loans easily to
a small scale farmer because of low produce and low profit which
results to a failure in paying back the loan.
5. In addition, the
dependence on imported foods has disincentive investment in local
farming. Also, soil infertility is one of the problems of agriculture in
Nigerian. Most of the farmable land in Nigeria contains soil that is
how to medium in productivity. According to the food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with proper management, the
soil can achieve medium to good productivity. The movies problem that
affects soil fertility is soil erosion. Wind erosion, strong winds
expose seeding lings and crops root system by blowing away loose, fine
grain soil particles in drifts, which can cover crops.
Another type
of erosion that affect soil fertility is water erosion. There are two
types of water erosion: Splash erosion and rill erosion. Splash erosion
occurs when rain drops impact the soil and rill erosion occurs when
channels of water carry soil downstream. This (water erosion) is reduced
when the soil is covered with a canopy.
6. Food processing problem is
estimated that about 20 to 40% of the yearly harvest is lost during
processing. The primary cause is the lack of efficient harvesting
techniques. According to and with the information above, it is quite
clear that the agricultural sector, as one of the Nigeria economy has
really got a lot to contribute to the economic growth of the country.
This research work therefore is aimed at answering the following
questions:
(i) What is the effect of agricultural output on economic
growth?
(ii) What is the effect of agricultural sector on employment
creation?
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]In recent decades, the main and potential contribution of agriculture to economic growth has been a subject of much controversy among development economists. As some contend that agricultural development is a pre-condition for industrialization, others strongly object it and argue for a different path. Taking advantage of ordinary least square method (OLS), the research carried out by means of secondary data and using the independent variables. Agricultural Development (AGD), Capital Formation ( ... Continue reading---
