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The Impact Of Agricultural Output On The Nigerian Economy
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In spite of the existence
of a well-articulated agricultural policy document for Nigeria since
1988, the country has never established a systematic focus in her
agricultural planning history that shows a conscious effort to purposely
prioritize her agricultural development based on the generally
identified components that constitute modern agriculture. Over the
years, there has been the development and adoption of programs that
tended to generally support only increased production of commodities in
the country. Such programs have included, among others :
a.
Farm settlement schemes (FSS) in the early to mid 1950s for creating
farmsteads of the Israeli Moshav-type agriculture intended to increase
commodity output and create employment for young school leavers.
b.
River basin development authorities (RBDA’s) for the purpose of
harnessing water resources for farmers throughout the country.
c.
Green revolution scheme (GRS) that encouraged all Nigerians in both
urban and rural areas to go into agriculture for both commerce and
provision of food for home consumption.
d. Agricultural
development programs (ADP’s) in all states of the .federation to help
organize farmers into more productive agriculture through the provision
of modern inputs.
Each of these programs/schemes succeeded in
momentarily increasing food production only. There were no inbuilt
components that purposely catered for the processing and/or
commercialization of the food output. Thus, understandably, they failed
as efforts aimed at developing the agriculture sector. Recent attempts
that have recognized agriculture’s current level of performance and the
fact that every aspect of Nigeria’s agriculture sector needs attention
have only listed specified areas that require attention. For instance,
the 2001 Rural Development Sector Strategy identifies the following
areas for immediate attention if agriculture and rural development in
Nigeria are to make the desired impact on the lives of the people:
a. Institutional restructuring and role reassignment in the agricultural extension sub sector.
b. Agricultural technology development and natural resource management
c. Physical and social infrastructural development.
d. Public intervention in specified areas of rural agriculture to measure effectiveness.
e. Human capacity building in the agriculture sector.
Similarly,
the 2002 Agricultural Policy document that listed the new directions
that agricultural development in the country should take has also only
listed the various components of the agricultural sector without any
attempt at prioritizing the components.
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