Article Preview
TopIntroduction
Agricultural sector is one of important determinants of economic growth in different parts of the world including Nigeria. Literature posits that, economic growth is referred to as changes in material production which results to annual increase in production that is explicitly manifested in the rate of growth in national income or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Fanny & Mathilde, 2011). It is thereby important to note that the setback in the agricultural sector has not reflected its important connection with economic growth. As a result of this, there is need to explore various agricultural policies and programmes in order to make agriculture sustainable in the country. There are several studies on agricultural investment as well as policies and programmes in Nigeria.
Yet, there is a gap to be filled in the existing body of knowledge. however, there is less attention on the investigation of agricultural programmes and policies in order to intensify the future of farming in the country. More importantly, the government initiated different programmes and policies on agriculture between 1976 and 1983 mainly for boosting production of domestic agricultural products. Nonetheless, exploration of oil and gas subsequently affected the development of agricultural sector which contributed to over-dependency on the importation of food items in the country.
Undoubtedly, Nigeria has immense potentials in agricultural sector, but the problem of continuity of various agricultural policies and programmes remained a great obstacle. Hence, there was an emphasis on strengthening the agriculture sector whereby in 1998, the government paid a meticulous focus on the enhancement of the sector. There was an adoption of agricultural policy that aimed at ensuring food security for the entire population of the country as well as trying to focus on the local or domestic production in order to boost economic growth as literature contends (Emmanuel, Agwale & Usman, 2020).
Thus, there is a gap in the implementation of agricultural policy in the country. This study is motivated by the recent agricultural policy of the government (2016-2022) that advocates for agribusiness as an instrument for overall economic development in the country. This trend has been enviable between 2016 and 2022 which made the agriculture’s share of labour force at 70%; its share of non-oil exports earnings reaches 75%; its share of federal budget is 2.0%. This is an indication that, there has been several initiatives such as policy framework, political commitment, agricultural technology, infrastructural deficit, finance and risk management, institutional reform and realignment among others (FMARD, 2020a).
In spite of the aforementioned efforts, there are still needs to do more in many aspects in order to make the agricultural investment sustainable and indemnifiable. Indeed, investing on farming by increasing domestic products is not sufficient but there is need for sustainable intervention by enormously providing (FMARD, 2020b). This paper attempts to fill this gap in the existing body of knowledge by specifically exploring sustainability of agriculture for future farming intensification in the country.