CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
As confirmed by Ugochukwu (1999:02),
agriculture is the first and most thriven occupation of mankind. From its early
form of wild fruits, leaf, root, snail and insect gathering, fishing and
hunting, to its present mechanized and almost automated form, it has undergone
a lot of development
Okah (2007:04) conceived agriculture as the
cultivation of land, raising animals for the purpose of production of food for
man, feed for animals, and raw materials for our industries. It also consist of
croup production, forestry, livestock and fishing. It is also essential for
expansion of employment opportunity, reduction of poverty and improvement of
income distribution, speeding up industrialization and easing the pressure of balance
of payments disequilibrium.
The role of agriculture in transforming both
the social and economic frame work of an economy cannot be over emphasized.
Anyanwu (1997:213) posits that “agriculture has been the main source of gainful
employment from which Nigeria nation can feed its feeding population, providing
the nations industries with local raw materials and as a reliable source of
government revenue. Corroborating the above is Reynolds(1975.35) who asserts
that agricultural development can promote the economic development by
increasing the supply of food available for domestic consumption and releasing
the labour needed for industrial employment.
The major agricultural export commodities in
Nigeria include cocoa, coffee, cotton, groundnut, groundnut oil, palm kernel,
soya beans, ginger rubber, benign –seed and chili pepper (CBN,2003).there are
other commodities that are being demanded in the world market such as cassava
and cassava products, banana, plantain and so on. The Nigerian economy until today
is still dependent on primary products both as foreign exchange earner and
contribute to gross domestic product.(GAP). Olurosunsola (1996:131) attributes
this to the fact that the main interest of the colonial masters was and still
is the exportation of products needed for their home industries.
The continuous production and exports of the
agricultural product played a dominant role in attracting foreign exchange to
boost economic activities from independence to the early 1970s. Obadan
(2000:68), observes that the production and palm oil accounted for 96.4% of
total exports earnings while non- oil export product accounted for 97.3% for
total export then. He observed further that from the 1970s, the
Nigerian economy became mono-cultural, having been transformed from one
dependent on fairly diversified portfolio of agricultural products to an
economy heavily dependent on crude oil for growth and sustenance. Oyo (1994:23)
observed that the advent of crude petroleum production and related activities
especially in the early 1970’s changed radically the structure of
Nigeria economy. The huge foreign exchange earnings from crude oil export
encouraged importation of finished foods to the detriment of domestic
manufactured ones, while the agricultural sector was rendered less competitive
over time through over-valued currency, inappropriate pricing policies and
scarcity of farm labour caused mainly by the migration of youth to urban areas
in search of wage employment.
Nigeria agriculture is divided into two types,
the subsistence agriculture and commercial agriculture-: the subsistence
agriculture is the type of farming which involves only the farmer and his
family i.e the farmer produces for himself and his family with little or none
to sell in the market it is practiced in small scale system. It involves only a
little amount of money to practice unlike commercial farming that involves huge
amount of money to practice. It does not involve the machine to carry out,
since the land is very small and fragmented (Amechi 2004).
The second type is commercial agriculture, and
this is where a farmer produces his crops and sells them in the market. It is
carried out in large scale with enough land and machines. These machines are
used in cultivating crops. It involves a lot of capital and time, and also
increase the farmers income. Commercial farming helps farmers to engage in the cultivation of different
varieties of crops, since the money, land and equipment could easily be used.
In agriculture, fund is needed to enable the
farmer purchase more land, buy his inputs at the appropriate time and to pay
for hired labour or farm machinery. Unfortunately, credits are not easily
available for most of the farmers because of collateral and other things that
are usually required by the commercial banks and other credit institutions.
This makes it possible for most of the farmers in Nigeria to lack the required
capital for investment in large scale agriculture, hence the reason for the
recent low agricultural productivity.
With the recent move by the leading economies
of the world to diversify their economy Nigeria in a bid to join the rest of
the developed economies is conscious of the danger signals observed both within
and outside the country that underscores the need to move away from total
reliance on petroleum related revenues. These signals according to soludo
(2009:28) include the on-going global economic crisis that is threatening the
growth and development agenda of the present administration, the crisis in the Niger
delta which has interrupted petroleum operations in the past few year’s, and
the frightening revelation that the united states of America, the highest buyer
of Nigeria crude oil, Brazil and several other countries are seriously engaged
in research for an alternative source of energy. Hence, the need to diversify
Nigerian economy, especially Agricultural sector that has for long, been
neglected.
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Several research have shown that Nigeria Is endowed with Huge expance of fertile
Agriculture land rivers, streams,
lakes, forest and grassland, as well as a large active population that can
sustain a high productive and profitable agricultural sector. Adubi(2000:103)
admits that this enormous resource baser if well managed could support a
vibrant agricultural sector capable of ensuring self- sufficiency in food and
raw materials for the industrial sector as well as, providing gainful
employment for the teeming population and generating foreign exchange through
exports.
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