Economics · Lesson 13

Agriculture in Nigeria: problems, prices & policies

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Agriculture: types and features; importance; problems of agriculture and solutions; agricultural policies in Nigeria (e.g. OFN, Green Revolution, River Basin Development Authorities, ADPs); instability of agricultural incomes, causes and remedies; marketing of agricultural commodities and role of commodity boards

WAEC: Agriculture: meaning and importance; types of agricultural systems (subsistence, plantation, mixed, shifting cultivation, nomadic herding); problems of agriculture in Nigeria and solutions; instability of agricultural prices and incomes; agricultural policies and programmes; marketing of agricultural produce; food security

NECO: Agriculture: meaning and importance; types of agricultural systems (subsistence, plantation, mixed, shifting cultivation, nomadic herding); problems of agriculture in Nigeria and solutions; instability of agricultural prices and incomes; agricultural policies and programmes; marketing of agricultural produce; food security

What you will learn

Define agriculture and explain its importance to the Nigerian economy.
Describe agricultural systems and their merits and demerits.
Explain the problems of agriculture in Nigeria and suggest solutions.
Explain the causes and remedies of instability in farm prices and incomes, using diagrams and figures.
Describe Nigeria’s agricultural policies and programmes and evaluate them.
Explain marketing of farm produce and food security.

Key points

Agriculture: crops, livestock, fishing, forestry.
Importance: food, jobs, raw materials, forex, revenue, market for industry.
Systems: subsistence, shifting, bush fallowing, mixed, plantation, nomadic, ranching.
Problems: small holdings, crude tools, poor credit, land tenure, poor storage and roads, insecurity, climate.
Farm incomes unstable: weather-driven supply plus inelastic demand.
Bumper harvest + inelastic demand can lower farm income.
Remedies: buffer stocks, guaranteed prices, storage, irrigation, insurance.
Policies: ADPs (1975), RBDAs and OFN (1976), Green Revolution (1980), DFRRI (1986), ABP (2015).
Marketing boards bought export crops until abolished in 1986.
Food security: availability, access, utilisation, stability.

Start here: Meaning and importance of agriculture

From the yam barns of Benue and the rice fields of Kebbi to cattle herds in the north and fish ponds in the Delta, agriculture is part of everyday life in Nigeria.

Agriculture is the cultivation of crops, rearing of livestock, fishing and forestry for food, raw materials and income.

Branches

Crop production: food crops (yam, cassava, maize, rice, sorghum) and cash crops (cocoa, cotton, groundnut, sesame, cashew).
Livestock: cattle, goats, sheep, poultry, pigs.
Fisheries: inland, coastal and aquaculture.
Forestry: timber, rubber latex, gum arabic.

Importance of agriculture

Food for the growing population.
Employment: a large share of Nigerians, especially in rural areas, depend on farming.
Raw materials for industries: cotton for textiles, cocoa for beverages, cassava for starch and ethanol.
Foreign exchange from exports: before the oil era, cocoa, groundnuts and palm produce were the main export earners.
Government revenue from taxes and levies.
Market for industrial goods: farmers buy fertiliser, tools, clothes.
Contribution to GDP and to rural development.
Release of labour to industry as productivity rises.

Worked example 13.1

Classify each as a food crop, cash crop or both: (a) cocoa; (b) yam; (c) groundnut.

(a) Cash crop (mainly sold/exported).
(b) Food crop.
(c) Both: eaten locally and sold or processed into oil.

Cash; food; both

⚠️ Common mistake: describing agriculture as "farming only crops". Livestock, fishing and forestry are also agriculture.

Try it yourself. State two ways agriculture helps industry.

Show solution

Supplies raw materials; provides a market for industrial goods (also labour and food for workers).

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Practice questions

1. Which is NOT a branch of agriculture?

Banking
Crop farming
Fishing
Forestry

Show answer

A: Banking
Agriculture covers crops, livestock, fishing and forestry.

2. Farming mainly to feed the farmer's family is

plantation farming
commercial farming
ranching
subsistence farming

Show answer

D: subsistence farming
Little surplus for sale.

3. Large estates growing a single cash crop such as rubber or oil palm are

bush fallowing
nomadic herding
plantations
shifting cultivation

Show answer

C: plantations
Plantation agriculture.

4. A major problem of agriculture in Nigeria is

overuse of irrigation
use of crude tools and small holdings
too many tractors
excess credit

Show answer

B: use of crude tools and small holdings
Low productivity results.

5. Farm prices and incomes are unstable mainly because

supply varies with weather and demand is inelastic
demand is perfectly elastic
farmers fix prices
government sets all prices

Show answer

A: supply varies with weather and demand is inelastic
Small supply shifts cause large price swings.

Key words

Agriculture: Cultivation of crops, rearing of animals, fishing and forestry for human use.
Subsistence farming: Farming mainly to feed the farmer’s family, with little surplus for sale.
Commercial farming: Farming mainly for sale and profit.
Shifting cultivation: Farming a plot until it loses fertility and moving to new land.
Bush fallowing: Leaving land to rest for some years before farming it again.
Mixed farming: Growing crops and rearing animals on the same farm.
Plantation farming: Large-scale cultivation of one cash crop, e.g. rubber or oil palm.
Nomadic herding: Moving with animals in search of pasture and water.
Cash crop: Crop grown mainly for sale or export, e.g. cocoa.
Food crop: Crop grown mainly for eating, e.g. yam, maize.
Land tenure: The system by which land is owned, held and used.
Mechanisation: Use of machines such as tractors in farming.

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