Effect of Agricultural Growth on Poverty Reduction in Nigeria (1990-2020)
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the role of agriculture on economic growth
- To ascertain the relationship between agriculture sector and poverty reduction
- To ascertain various challenges facing the growth of the agricultural sector in Nigeria
- To examine the prospect of agricultural sector in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTON
Nigeria has relied so much on agriculture after her independence in 1960, given its stage of economic development. The growth dynamics of the Nigerian economy have been propelled by the existence and exploitation of natural resources and primary products. At the onset, the agricultural sector was the base, as the country needed food and cash crops for advancement. Actually, Nigeria has been left by her contemporaries in the quest for development. A look at the Nigerian economy vis-a-vis that of China in recent past showed that, Nigeria was better in 1970. Nigeria had a GDP per capita of US$233.35 and was ranked 88th in the world while China was ranked 114th with a GDP per capita of US$111.82. But today, China is very far from Nigeria in terms of economic advancement. The problem of „growthlessness‟ can be attributed to inconsistent government policies, political instability, lack of creativity on the part of leaders, mismanagement of resources, under utilization of resources, brain drain, geometrical increase in population, lost of interest in agriculture as a means of livelihood, corruption, among others. The abundance of food production and raw materials for industries were among the attraction of colonial masters to Nigeria. Subsistence farming was predominant and agriculture provided a large proportion of the population with easy source of livelihood. Points out that Agriculture have been the backbone of the Nigerian economy, providing employment and source of livelihood for the increasing population. It accounted for over half of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Nigerian economy as at independence in 1960. Undoubtedly, one of the sources of national wealth and real income is essentially from agriculture. Consequently, development economists devoted much attention on how agriculture can best contribute meaningfully to aggregate economic expansion and modernization. However, in spite of the neglect of agriculture by the Nigerian government over the years, it remains the highest employer of labour in the country. Over seventy per cent of Nigerians are into one form of agriculture or the other. However, subsistence farming is inadequate to provide required food consumption level of the large population of the country. Really, many scholars have investigated on the agricultural situation in Nigeria and came up with varieties of remedial steps. One thing observed in Nigeria is not lack of policies and programmes rather the political will to implement and logically follow it to achieve the goal. In addition, there exist a lot of man-caused environmental problems debilitating agricultural practices in Nigeria. Notes that a lot of human activities like bush fallow, inappropriate technologies, overpopulation, transhumance, overgrazing, deforestation without adequate reforestation and profligate exploitation of mineral resources, are often not in tune with proper environmental management practices.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to effect of agriculture growth n poverty reduction in Nigeria 1990-2020
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on effect of agriculture growth n poverty reduction in Nigeria 1990-2020. 200 staff of federal ministry of agriculture was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on effect of agriculture growth n poverty reduction in Nigeria 1990-2020. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of effect of agriculture growth n poverty reduction in Nigeria 1990-2020
Summary
This study was on effect of agriculture growth n poverty reduction in Nigeria 1990-2020. Four objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the role of agriculture on economic growth, to ascertain the relationship between agriculture sector and poverty reduction, to ascertain various challenges facing the growth of the agricultural sector in Nigeria, to examine the prospect of agricultural sector in Nigeria. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of federal ministry of agriculture, Abuja. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up economists, farmers, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Since the rate of increase in population is higher than food productivity then there is a need to revitalize the plan/strategies/programme and give a special focus on creating effective participation through encouraging full investment, especially farming business. Similarly, policies, strategies and programme developed, amended and implemented have to be realistic in portraying and exploring enormous opportunities that are in agriculture to ensure that growth of the economy is benefiting poor farmers as well as special attention is needed specifically on the government spending on agriculture investment, which should focus on providing short and long term solution; including encouraging agriculture investment and well communicated agricultural research between researcher-extension officer-farmers and should encourage feedback from farmers to researchers. There are indications that with appropriate investments in the context of public-private partnership, it is possible to achieve lower costs of production, given that infrastructures and public services are well available to the small scale farmers. It is expected that ongoing road infrastructure development will improve and reduce costs of transport, distribution and reduce unnecessary expenses, especially on post-harvest loss that make local produce uncompetitive versus imported products
Recommendation
Steps must be taken now if the nation is to continue to pursue high level of achievement so that arable land with the favorable climate has to be strategically used for food production to ensure availability of supply of the food and bridge the gap of shortage of food today and in the future. This is a moral obligation of the nation that intends not only to change income of poor and their life style standard but also ensure sustainability of food availability, food access and food utilization within the nation and in the world at large. However, the role of agriculture during growth and structural transformation and the impact in economic development and poverty reduction has been and still a controversial issue since poverty is affected by high growth rate.
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