Agriculture in Nigeria

Agriculture in Nigeria is a branch and one of the major part of the economy in Nigeria, providing employment for about 35% of the population as of 2020. As reported by the FAO, agriculture remains the foundation of the Nigerian economy, despite the presence of oil in the country. It is the main source of livelihood for most Nigerians, as it provides food for the populace. It is a very important and invaluable sector in the nation Nigeria whose contributions can certainly not be ignored due to the fact that every year this sector manages to make provisions for millions of jobs for the people, tonnes of food products and important raw materials which are generated into economic increase and change for the nation. Putting aside the existence of Crude oil, Nigeria proceeds to rely on the agricultural products exported to generate and create most of its national revenue. Agriculture, however contributes a lesser percentage of the national GDP to industrialized countries while the economy of these industrialized nations are not as dependent on agriculture as they were before, however there would be extreme harm done if all of a sudden exports were to be immobilized.
The Agricultural sector in Nigeria is made up of four sub-sectors: crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing.

Nigeria has a total agricultural area of 70.8m hectares. This is distributed among arable land area of 34 million hectares, 6.5 million hectares for permanent crops, and 30.3 million hectares on meadows and pastures. Maize, cassava, guinea corn and yam are the major crops among households in Nigeria and 70 percent of households practice crop farming. In the south south, Nigeria, 7.3 percent of households practice fishing, While 69.3 percent of households own or raise livestock in north West, Nigeria.

In the third quarter of 2019, the sector grew by 14.88% year-on-year in nominal terms with a decline of 3.44% points from the third quarter of 2018. The largest driver of the sector remains Crop Production as it accounts for 91.6% of the sector in the third quarter of 2019 with a quarterly growth which stood at 44.12%. The Agriculture sector contributed 29.25% to overall real GDP during the third quarter of 2019.Between January and March 2021, Agriculture contributed to 22.35 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product. Dr Mohammad Abubakar who is the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), made a statement saying the agriculture sector contributed 23 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2022, According to him the chart showed that agriculture alone contributed 23.3 per cent to GDP (Half Year 2022), this upholds the positive trend of the previous years’ performance of 25.88 per cent (2021); 26.21 per cent (2020); 25.16 per cent (2019); 25.13 per cent (2018); 25.08 per cent (2017); 24.45 per cent (2016) and 23.11 per cent (2015).

The sector is being transformed by commercialization at the small, medium and large-scale enterprise levels.Olomola Ade S. (2007) “Strategies for Managing the Opportunities and Challenges of the Current Agricultural Commodity Booms in SSA” in Seminar Papers on Managing Commodity Booms in Sub-Saharan (:Africa: A Publication of the AERC Senior Policy Seminar IX. African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi, Kenya On the other hand, the Nigerian Agricultural sector has encountered several challenges, ranging from an obsolete land tenure system that limits access to land (1.8 ha/farming household), a very low level of irrigation development (less than 1 percent of cropped land under irrigation), limited adoption of research findings and technologies, high cost of farm inputs, poor access to credit due to the mismanagement of specialized institutions established for the development of agricultural sector and lack of collateral security by the farmers, inefficient fertilizer procurement and distribution, insufficient storage facilities and poor access to markets and more recently, changes in average temperatures, rainfall, climate extremes and infestation of pests and diseases causing organisms precipitated by climate change pose great challenge to agriculture. This is coupled with a high dependence on rain fed agriculture which has made the Agricultural Production System highly vulnerable to adverse seasonal variations. These have all contributed to low agricultural productivity (average of 1.2 metric tons of cereals/ha) with high post harvest losses and waste in Nigeria.Illiteracy is also one of the several factors standing against the progress and development of Agriculture in Nigeria. Research has proven that most of the farmers in Nigeria have not acquired formal education, only about 17 % and 13 % possess primary and secondary education respectively. Furthermore around 8 % have acquired tertiary education. In so many developed countries all over the world, most farmers had one form of education or the other, therefore decreasing the level of illiteracy and increasing the level of literacy, a farmer who has gone through one form of education or another will be able to read, understand and handle instruction manuals on input and the use of various machinery. The implication of this issue is that the prospects and overview for the acceptance of innovations are satisfactorily and fairly high when farmers possess formal education.

Dynamics

Food export accounted for more than 70 percent of the GNP of Nigeria at independence. Twenty-five years later, it was almost a complete reversal with food items accounting for over 50 percent of imports. Food output however declined after independence, although, many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa were fertile and potentially productive, per capital food out declined, grain imports then increased more than seven times. The usage of inorganic fertilizers was therefore promoted by the Nigerian government in the 1970s.
In 1990, 82 million hectares out of Nigeria's total land area of about 91 million hectares were found to be arable. 42 percent of the cultivable area was farmed. Much of this land was farmed under the bush fallow system, whereby land is left idle for a period of time to allow natural regeneration of soil fertility. 18 million hectares were classified as permanent pasture, but had the potential to support crops. Most of the 20 million hectares covered by forests and woodlands are believed to have agricultural potentials.

Agricultural holdings are small and scattered, and farming is carried out with simple tools. Large-scale agriculture is not common. Agriculture contributed 32% to GDP in 2001.Nigeria agriculture
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Production

Nigeria produced in 2022:

* 59.4 million tons of cassava (the largest producer in the world). Nigeria accounts for cassava production of up to 20 per cent of the world, about 34 per cent of Africa’s and about 46 per cent of West Africa’s.
* 47.5 million tons of yam (largest producer in the world);
* 3.3 million tons of taro (largest producer in the world);
* 2.6 million tons of cowpea (largest producer in the world);
* 6.8 million tons of sorghum (largest producer in the world);
* 2 million tons of okra (2nd largest producer in the world, second only to India);
* 2.8 million tons of peanut (3rd largest producer in the world, second only to China and India);
* 4 million tons of sweet potato (3rd largest producer in the world, second only to China and Malawi);
* 369 thousand tons of ginger (3rd largest producer in the world, losing only to India and China);
* 2.2 million tons of millet (4th largest producer in the world, second only to India, Niger and Sudan);
* 7.8 million tons of palm oil (4th largest producer in the world, second only to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand);
* 572 thousand tons of sesame seed (4th largest producer in the world, losing only to Sudan, Myanmar and India);
* 332 thousand tons of cocoa (4th largest producer in the world, second only to Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia);
* 3 million tons of plantain (5th largest producer in the world);
* 833 thousand tons of papaya (6th largest producer in the world);
* 1.6 million tons of pineapple (7th largest producer in the world);
* 3.9 million tons of tomato (11th largest producer in the world);
* 6.8 million tons of rice (one of the largest producers of rice in Africa, 14th largest producer in the world);
* 10.1 million tons of maize (14th largest producer in the world);
* 7.5 million tons of vegetable;
* 1.4 million tons of sugarcane;
* 1.3 million tonnes of potato;
* 949 thousand tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava);
* 938 thousand tons of onion;
* 758 thousand tons of soy;
* 747 thousand tons of green Bell pepper, pepper;
* 585 thousand tons of egusi;
* 263 thousand tons of sheanut;

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.

Nigeria produced about 2.2 million metric tons of fish per year in 2008. Livestock production is an essential component of Nigeria agriculture with abundant social and economic potentials. About 60 percent of the ruminant livestock population is found in the country’s semi-arid zone and mostly managed by pastoralists. Domestic production of livestock products is far below the national demand, resulting in large imports of livestock and livestock products. Except for eggs, the domestic production of animal products is less than half the demand for beef mutton and goat meat, while for milk and pork products it is less than quarter the demand

The Sustainable Development Goals in the Agriculture sector in Nigeria has made impact in the export sector responsible for the consumption and production of agricultural products in Nigeria. The exportation sector's monthly earns improved in 4 years. In January 2016, agricultural exports raked in N4.1billions which then rose to N25 billion by January 2017. From April 2019 – March 2020, total agriculture exports hit N289 billion for Nigeria.

Agriculture exports for the first 6 months of 2020 were N204.45 billion, which concerns that productivity is increasing in the sector to enable export growth.

The Sustainable Development Goals and Nigeria, Sustainable Development Goals has also led to the emergence of various policies that have had impact on the Agriculture sector. Some of them include the Nigerian “Agricultural Promotion Policy—2016–2020” which focuses on ensuring food security through reducing food imports. It covers, among others, institutional reforms and incentives to technological development at the local level. The Empowering Novel Agribusiness-Led Employment Program mobilizes finance for youth-led agribusiness development. Another scheme is the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Act from 2016, which offers incentives to farmers and other professionals throughout the entire agricultural supply chains. Finally, the “Green Alternative: The Agriculture Promotion Policy” launched in mid-2016. It tries to boost soybean and cowpea production, chosen for their nutritional value and export potential.

Agricultural products

Major crops include beans, rice, sesame, cashew nuts, cassava, cocoa beans, Bambara groundnut, groundnuts, gum arabic, kolanut, cocoa, maize (corn), melon, millet, palm kernels, palm oil, Plantain (cooking), plantains, rice, rubber, sorghum, soybeans, bananas and Yam (vegetable), yams.

In the past, Nigeria was famous for the export of groundnut and palm kernel oil. But over the years, the rate of exportation of this produce has reduced. A few years back local Nigerian companies have commenced exporting groundnuts, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, moringa seeds, Ginger, cocoa etc.

The country's agricultural products fall into two main groups: food crops produced for home consumption, and cash crops sold for profits and also exported abroad. Prior to the Nigerian civil war, the country was self-sufficient in food, but increased steeply after 1973. Bread made from American wheat replaced domestic crops as the cheapest staple food. Between 1980 and 2016, yam production increased from more than 5 million tonnes to 44 million tonnes.

Cocoa

Cocoa is the leading non-oil foreign exchange earner but the dominance of smallholders and lack of farm labour due to urbanization hold back production, some other factors holding back the production of cocoa include, poor financing, lack of a coordinating body and low uptake of newer varieties of seedlings to rehabilitate old and cultivate new plantations, appear very prominent as identified by various stakeholders.

The challenges have displaced the country from being the second-largest producer of cocoa beans to the fourth, overtaken by Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. In 1969, Nigeria produced 145,000 tons of cocoa beans, but has the potential for over 300,000 per year. For more productivity, Nigerian Government should give more incentives to cocoa farmers.

Rubber

Rubber is the second largest non-oil foreign exchange earner. Rubber is grown across different  states in Nigeria, some of the states  includes Edo, Delta, Ondo, Ogun, Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Ebonyi and Bayelsa states.

Oil palm

The palms industry constitutes a significant sector of the Nigerian economy, providing food and raw materials for the Food, Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals, Plastics and the Biomass, Bio-energy industries. In Nigeria the institute that has valuable information about oil palm is the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research. The formal mandate of the institute is to conduct research into the production and products of oil palm and other palms of economic importance and transfer its research findings to farmers.

Cash crop production

Cash crop production historical statistics in Nigeria:

Traditional native crops

Traditional native cereals such as fonio (''Digitaria exilis'' and ''Digitaria iburua'') are still grown in the Middle Belt of central Nigeria.

Other traditional native crops in Nigeria are:
*Bambara groundnut
*Hausa groundnut
*Fluted pumpkin
*Castor bean
*Melegueta pepper
*Cola nut
*Green amaranth
*Cowpea
*Roselle (plant), Roselle
*Okra

Ministry of Agriculture

The government office responsible for Agriculture development and transformation is currently the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nigeria), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Primarily funded by the Federal Government, the Ministry currently superintends almost fifty State-owned enterprise, parastatals operating as either key departments or agencies across the country. The Ministry has 2 major departments namely Technical and Service Departments:
*Technical Departments: Agriculture (Trees and Crops), Fisheries, Livestock, Land Resources, Fertilizer, Food Reserve & Storage and Rural Development.
*Service Departments: Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, PPAS (Plan, Policy, Analysis & Statistics) and Co-operatives.
The ministry is headed by Audu Ogbeh who was appointed by Muhammadu Buhari, President Muhammad Buhari on 12 November 2015 succeeding Akinwumi Adesina who was elected to head African Development Bank, Africa Development Bank.
Buhari also appointed Heineken Lokpobiri as the new Minister of State for Agriculture, and Shehu Ahmadu Musa, Shehu Ahmad as the Permanent Secretary under a newly created Ministry of Agriculture And Rural Development.

Policies

In 2011, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, Jonathan launched an Agricultural Transformation Agenda which was managed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The intended outcome of the agenda is to promote agriculture as a business, integrate the agricultural value chain and make agriculture a key driver of Nigeria's economic growth. To achieve this agenda the government put in place some new measures:

*New fiscal incentives to encourage domestic import substitution
*Removal of restrictions on areas of investment and maximum equity ownership in investment by foreign investors
*Foreign exchange controls, currency exchange controls – free transfer of Capital, Profits and Dividends
*Constitutional guarantees against nationalization/expropriation of investments
*Zero percent (0%) duty on agricultural machinery and equipment imports
*Pioneer Tax holiday for agricultural investments
*Duty Waivers and other industry related incentives e.g., based on use of local raw materials, export orientation

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria began the Anchors-Borrow program to encourage the cultivation of certain crops, especially rice.

The FG of Nigeria has also closed it land borders in other to curtail rice imports and encourage local production.

See also

*Agricultural sustainability in northern Nigeria
*Agriculture in Rivers State
*Rural development in Nigeria
*Deforestation in Nigeria
*Yam production in Nigeria
*Cassava production in Nigeria
*Cocoa production in Nigeria

References

External links

Agriculture & Animals
Motherland Nigeria
AgroNigeria
Nigeria's Agricultural Mouthpiece
West African Agricultural Market Observer/Observatoire du Marché Agricole (RESIMAO)Major Farming Problems in Nigeria-Crop Farmers and Livestock Rearers

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