The Vision 20:2020 and Food Production in Nigeria: A Critical Overview

Abstract The study focuses on the analysis of the interface between the Vision 20:2020 and food production in Nigeria. The thrust of the study however is to find out how the enunciation and implementation of Vision 20:2020 has impacted on food security in Nigeria. Specifically, the study interrogates the impact of the Vision 20:2020 on food importation, production of livestock and fishery as well as crops. Relying on Marxist instrumentalist theory derived from the radical models of economic policy formation which assumes that the state pursues the interest of the capitalist class simply because the state is controlled by this class, the study demonstrates that the cardinal objective of introducing such policy instrument by President Yar’Adua was to safeguard, if not to promote the vested interest of the comprador bourgeoisie by allowing some people within the government to engage in awarding of contracts and procurements of farm implements ostensibly to achieve the goals set out in the Vision 20:2020. The study therefore maintains that the enunciation of the Vision 20:2020, therefore, was a way of providing a protective cover for some members of the ruling class to amass wealth by awarding contracts and procuring farm implements all in the name of trying increasing agricultural production with a view to achieving the goals of the Vision 20:2020. Adopting observational technique and qualitative descriptive analysis and relying on secondary sources, relevant data were generated and analyzed. On the basis of this, the study unveiled that the efforts of the Nigerian government to increase agricultural productions as contained in the Vision 20:2020 strengthen the rate of food importation. The study also found that The Nigerian government efforts to promote modernization of the production systems as enunciated in the Vision 20:2020 have undermined the production of tubers and grains as well as livestock and fishery. Therefore, granting that the Vision 20:2020 has not impacted significantly on food production in Nigeria, the study maintains that agricultural Policies should be designed, implemented, and managed by professional policy makers with the requisite training and experience.