Presidential Research & Communications Unit

Agriculture contributes 42% of Nigeria’s GDP and engages over 65% of the country’s workforce. The sector is constrained by enormous challenges, and is characterised by low output, inefficient and antiquated production tools and infrastructure. Approximately 66% of the country’s total land mass of 92.377 million hectares is suitable for agricultural production but about half of that is not cultivated. The technological inadequacies in standardisation and quality control have stunted our farm produce, rendering it uncompetitive in local and international markets.

Non-affordability of modern production inputs and equipment, low access to credit/finance and poor infrastructure all combine to make local production uncompetitive. Poor funding which led to total collapse of research and extension services in the sector shall be overcome through the effective deployment of the Natural Resources Fund. Ineffective regulatory framework for enforcing grades and standards for farm produce has made farm output growth difficult.

Government will ensure the optimal performance of agriculture. When left to market forces and pitched against the more efficient, and often highly subsidised external competition, as well as when faced with the vagaries of natural uncertainties, the average, resource-poor, small-holder Nigerian farmer will find it difficult to compete in local and international markets. Critical areas for intervention will include strengthening agribusiness through institution of a profitability and prices support mechanism, land tenure changes, aggressive development and supply of new land resources, technological empowerment of the sector, increased access to credit finance, strengthening of farmer support groups through commercial farmers, improvement of rural access infrastructure, and resuscitation of the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs).

Central to these mentioned strategies, is the urgent need for the introduction on the supply side, of the Commercial Farmer to professionalise agribusiness in Nigeria. Additional land for cultivation and idle irrigation facilities around our dammed water bodies provide excellent opportunities to increase farm output and employment prospects in rural areas.

On the demand side, the reintroduction of the Commodity Boards and its licensed Buying Agent will be undertaken to boost the marketing prospects of our farm produce. Also, the new National Policy on Agriculture launched by the previous administration shall be made to, among other things, strengthen national food security, increase production and local processing of agricultural raw materials, and increase employment generation opportunities in the food sector.

Government shall embark on the preparation of a comprehensive National Food Sector Plan (NFSP). The Plan, which must be detailed, implementable and result-oriented, will be the tool for realising the desirable goals of the interventions recommended above. The NFSP will be the product of collaboration between all significant stakeholders in the Food Sector. The Development Plan for the Food Sector will have definite implementation timelines classified as; short-term activities (2008 – 2010); medium-term activities (2010 – 2015); and long-term activities (2015 – 2020).