Need for agricultural practice in Nigeria

Agricultural development is considered to hold the key to economic development for most Sub-Saharan countries including Nigeria. In Nigeria,there are several sectors that contribute to the total output of the economy.

Agriculture are grouped into four major sectors,namely agricultural, manufacturing, oil /petroleum and service.The agricultural sector is further grouped into crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing.

Over the past three decades,Nigeria government initiated a policy and program which was aimed at restoring agricultural sector to its pride of place in the economy.

However various efforts at promoting investment and export diversification in sector have not yielded appreciable result.

Various investment and export diversification for generating higher growth in the economy has remained unlocked and unexploited in agriculture due to a host factor that must be removed.

These factors are marketing problems,infrastructure inadequacies,unstable input and output prices.The policy action for removing these constraints/factors must includes improvement in environmental management,increase in funding,efficiency in agricultural spending and downstream commodity activities.

Government should invest heavily in rural and urban infrastructure and such investment must development of infrastructure in the urban and rural areas.

According to a farmer by name Suleman spoke to the correspondent of daily time newspaper on ”how government are not performing as expected.

Government make promises and as such should live up to expectations.He complained of insufficient funds,good supply of fertilizer and provision of good infrastructure to farmers to make their work easier and enjoyable”.

VISION FOR 2020
The government aimed at improving national agricultural policy by ” attaining food security,increase production and productivity,generate employment and income,expand exports and reduce food import,thereby freeing resources for infrastructural development and delivery of social services”.

The current government seems to attribute the unsatisfactory state of Nigeria’s agriculture to its subsistence orientation.The pervious government are characterized as having treated agriculture purely as a development issue.

Hence the focus shifts to the roles of agric-business.specifically the agriculture transformation action plan(ATAP launched in August 2011) seeks to develop the value chain of five key commodities which are rice,cassava,cocoa,cotton and Sorghum(grain use to make flour and also use as cattle feed).

This entails reforming the input supply regions,a targeted region specified in increasing the output of the five priority which are commodities,post-harvest system development,a strong orientation towards agric-business and promoting value addition in the production chain.

The success of the program depends largely on reforming the fertilizer supply mechanism which has a history of large scale of corruption.The program is promoted by the current minister of Agriculture by name chief Audu Ogbeh.

REASONS TO INVEST IN AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA NOW.
With the world’s market value of crude oil diminishing various countries have drive their focus to other largely ignored revenue streams.

Nigeria as a nation has been greatly hit with this unfortunate turn of events In the energy industry and as such has reacted with a new line of action in Agriculture.

Agriculture in Nigeria as a source of income is still highly beneficial for the nation and Africa as a continent because of the abundance of farmable lands and an increase in the yearly entrants.

The benefits the industry poses has caused an emergency action by the government to introduce several attractive incentive/benefits for new and existing farmers in the sector.

The early farmers are most likely going to be the greatest beneficiaries and stands a chance to own the future large industries that employs thousands of people to work in their successful organizations.

1The Nigerian government and other government in Africa are in desperate need of individuals and businesses to start up agricultural business.

This will ensure the country has a steady flow of income even if the price of crude oil stays low or goes completely extinct.

With the economic recession and several other uncontrollable events,the government is making access to agriculture in Nigeria or across Africa to have easier access to loans for fertilizers, machinery,lands and a lot more.

Taking advantage of the government call for people to startup agricultural business,is a smart move before the incentive gets reduced after a reasonable number of agriculture becomes successful.

2 Agriculture produces are products that the world needs,without them many industries can’t function,some government won’t be able to grow and people won’t feed well.

identifying a good agricultural segment to drive high revenue would make a lot of people millionaires before others realizes.

3 Agriculture in Nigeria continues to remain a great source of employment.people in rural and less populated communities depends on farming for their lively hood.

many work as staffs in large farms families own small farm they farm on periodically.With more and more crops grown and sold in local and international markets the unemployment rate will continue to drop and the standard of living will continue to rise in Nigeria and many parts of Africa.

4 owning a large or small diversification of farms will always ensure you never worry about what to eat even if you have little cash at hand or in the bank.

Aparts from satisfying your personal food needs,there is a population of over 190million Nigerians who eat everyday.The fact that the country will forever be hungry guarantees that this revenue stream will never dry up.

5 land appreciation-when you buy a plot,two plots or several acres of lands for agricultural business.

Years later the value of your farm land will be several times the original value,in the end,you don’t just make only revenue from your products but your net worth also rises as the years passes by.

6 For the birthday wish.May poor the prices of food is very important given the relatively proportion of their income generally spent on feeding.

A reduction of prices of food allows the poor to eat more and possibly feed well which has a positive impact on nutrition,health and food security.

Inclusion Agriculture is a means of livelihood in Nigeria and all the other parts of the world. It involves tough work because it contribute to food security and good health of the nation.

Agriculture is very important because it is the source of good supply of goods,clothing,medicine and employment all over the world.