Agriculture requires the cultivation of land, raising and rearing of animals, for production of food for man, feed for animals and recycleables for industries. It involves forestry, fishing, processing and marketing of the agricultural products. Essentially, it can be composed of crop production, livestock, forestry, and fishing.
Agriculture may be the mainstay of numerous economies. All over the world, enhancing an enduring economy goes together with agricultural development thus, there exists a need for Nigeria to use her various agricultural resources to full potential to be able to accelerate her quest and efforts to achieving sustainable economic development.
Agriculture is regarded as a catalyst for that overall growth of any nation; development economists have always assigned the agriculture sector a central set up the development process, early development theorists though emphasized industrialization, they counted on agriculture to produce the necessary creation of food and unprocessed trash, combined with the labour force that may gradually be absorbed by industry and services sector. Much later thinking moved agriculture towards the forefront of the event process; the wants technical difference in agriculture and “green revolution” suggested agriculture as being the dynamo and magic wand for economic growth and development.
The industrial revolution with the Nineteenth century which catapulted the agrarian economies on most countries of Europe got their stimuli from agriculture; the sector in the past has also worked a significant miracle in countries like Mexico, India, Brazil, Peru, Philippines and China in which the Green Revolution was one from the great success stories. Indeed, value of agriculture in different nation’s economy are not over emphasized, as an example, in United States of America, agriculture contributes about 1. 1% in the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
The above statistic indicated that a lot more developed a country would be the lower the contribution of agriculture to Gross Domestic Product. Economy diversification is undoubtedly an economic development strategy seen as a increasing the numbers from the revenue base of your economy. The Nigerian economy is really a mono-cultural economy determined by crude oil because the main supply of her revenue, it really is crucial that government should never keep on believing that oil has an endless method of obtaining revenue.
As reliant on priority, Nigeria government must encourage the rapid diversification of Nigeria’s economy as this would be the only sustainable method to survive the actual environment of global economic uncertainty of international oil price volatility and shocks, unfavourable quota system and depletion.
Diversification within the agriculture sector is therefore suggested for Nigeria as being a developing economy to guarantee food and nutritional security, income and employment generation, poverty alleviation and encourage industrialization, ease pressure on balance of payment, reliable method to obtain government revenue and overall economic continuing development of the country.
Prior towards the political crisis of 1967-1970, agriculture’s positive contributions for the economy were instrumental in sustaining economic growth and stability. The bulk of food demand was satisfied from domestic output, thereby obviating the desire to utilize scarce foreign currency resources on food importation.
Stable boost in agricultural exports constituted the backbone of your favorable balance of trade. Sustainable degrees of capital were based on the agricultural sector from the imposition of countless taxes and accumulation of selling surpluses, that have been used to finance many development projects such as being the building and construction of Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria) and first Nigerian skyscraper-cocoa house in Ibadan. The sector, which employed 71% from the total labourforce in 1960, employed only 56% in 1977, the phone number stood at 68% in 1980, falling to 55% in 1986, 1987 and 1988; and 57% annually from 1989 to 1992, and it has continued to nosedive into 2000s since the result in the neglect on the sector.
To channel itself in relation to modern development, Nigeria should examine what factors hindered the introduction of its agricultural sector, that was the backbone with the Nigerian economy prior to era of oil boom. It should rectify the mistakes it produced in over 54 years by immediately putting these strategic plans into action. The people of Nigeria can uplift themselves from poverty and distress by eradicating corruption and devoting themselves to focus on progress.
The 2020:20 initiative could keep Nigeria devoted to improving their economy and put together with a significant effort to reducing food imports and increase food production inside their own country, Nigeria can witness a timely turnaround in their investment. Nigeria has the required components constantly in place to return in an agricultural-based economy. Research has indicated that a return in an agricultural economy it isn’t just possible, and definitely will greatly help the entire country of Nigeria.
To achieve sustainable economic development and also to lift the dormant and continuously dwindling contribution in the agriculture sector, Nigeria will need to have some recommended pre-requisites diversification policies for instance provision of monetary resources to sector to have it up and functioning; a mix of government provision of subsidies, improved and high yielding seedlings and breeds internet hosting is companies and small-scale farmer producing the size of 85% with the sector’s agricultural output are essential to boost the agricultural market.
There also have to revise the actual import and export regulations to really make it more convincing for other countries to simply accept agricultural products from Nigeria. It can be an established fact by purchasing the population that has reached over 170 million, vast cultivatable farmland, a conducive climate and soil, Nigeria has the essential productive resources instructed to have a strong welcome back in the agriculture sector just as one engine to achieving sustainable economic development.