An analysis of Nigerian agricultural policies, 1960-1987

This study focuses on Nigeria's agricultural policies, 1960-1987, and explores the question of how, despite official rhetoric, the agricultural sector was used by successive governments to achieve specific social, economic, and political objectives which conflicted with sustained development in agriculture. Also, the study examines the important roles of Nigerian women farmers and their particular problems. The research method used in this study was to collect and analyze selected, available data and discussions on Nigeria's agricultural policies from a wide variety of public and private sources. The study emphasizes Nigeria's agricultural policies during the first decade of political independence (1960-1970); the oil boom period (1970-1980); and the post-oil boom era (1980-1987). The analysis shows that the ruling elites of successive administrations were not committed to the long-term development of Nigerian agriculture. Although Nigeria is primarily a nation of small-scale farmers, the distributors of government agricultural subsidies favored the relatively few large-scale capitalist farmers. There was no serious attempt to strike a balance between urban and rural development; the government officials who were in charge of various agricultural programs were not made accountable for their actions; and women farmers were not taken as equal partners in the nation's agricultural development programs. To revitalize Nigerian agriculture, the study calls on the government to: make the small-scale farmer the focus of its agricultural policies; reform the land-use decrees that are biased against small farmers; avoid the creation of elite farmers through agrarian programs such as the Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs); address the particular needs and problems of women farmers; and make the newly-created Directorate of Rural Development an effective instrument for raising the income and welfare of rural dwellers.