CRD 122 - Nigerian Agriculture

In Nigeria, we witness a case where agricultural sector contributions, however, have been less than adequate in the five (5) main areas. We can now link these reasons for the underdevelopment of Nigerian economy. However, lets now discuss its contributions to economy. (I) Food Provision: Food provides the basic human need and energy. Before 1970, food supply in Nigeria was quantitatively adequate. The problem by this time was poor quality. e.g. much of carbohydrate and little or no protein. The abundance of food by this time was due to low food prices. From then (1970 onwards) food shortage has been a permanent problem reflected in high food prices and growing expenditure on food imports. You could imagine how importation of food since 1970 has had negative implications. This could be seen in relation to: i. Waste of foreign exchange, the foreign exchange spent on food ought to have been used for capital importation. ii. Destruction of local production capacity. This is because imported food tends to displace locally produced ones in terms of quality. (II) Export Production: Exports could be considered as a means of increasing savings and investment level. Through sales, farmers have normal incomes and can thus save. The essence of purchasing capital goods is to raise productive capacity. In the colonial days, agricultural export earnings did account for the growth of investment within and outside the agricultural sector. But from 1970 to date, earnings from agricultural exports have dropped because of: i. Poor performance of the export crops sub sector. ii. Increased local demands for export crops. Local industries now require same crops we formerly exported