Problems of Agricultural Development in Nigeria and their Possible Solutions

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Welcome to class! 

In today’s class, we will be talking about the problems of agricultural development in Nigeria and their possible solutions. Enjoy the class!

Problems of Agricultural Development in Nigeria and their Possible Solutions

CONTENT:

• Problems of Agricultural Development
• Solutions to Problems of Agricultural Development

1. Inadequate land /land tenure system:

There is a problem of enough agricultural land production as a result of the situation arising from the system of the land. The land is communally owned in Nigeria and no person can lay sole right over the land. People who have capital find it difficult to obtain land for investment.

Solution

(i) Reviewing and enforcing the land use act of 1978.

(ii) Abandoned land should be put to use

2. Inadequate provision of basic/social amenities:

Inadequate provision of amenities like electricity, pipe-borne water, health care, school, etc. in the rural area are part of the problem hindering agricultural development in Nigeria.

Solution

(i) The government should provide basic social amenities such as electricity medical centres, schools etc. in rural areas.

(ii) People should join hands together to engage in community development.

3. The poor financial status of the farmers:

Farmers find it difficult to invest considerable capital in their farming activities because of their poor financial status. They cannot acquire modern farm input like machinery, improved seed, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides etc.

Solution

(i) Farmers should form co-operative societies to pool their resources together to benefit members and for easy procurement of loan from a bank.

(ii) The government should subsidize the price of agricultural inputs.

(iii) Commercial and agricultural banks should make the loan available to farmers at a low-interest rate.

(iv) Collateral security should be in the form of guarantee.

4. Loan and credit with high-interest rate:

The interest rate that is normally charged on the principal sums by banks or other financial institutions is high. This discourages farmer from borrowing.

Solution

(i) As in the poor financial status of farmers.

Evaluation

Give two possible solutions each to the problems of

1. Inadequate land and
2. The poor financial status of the farmers

5. Illiteracy of the farmers:

Most of the farmers are not educated and cannot understand modern farming approach because basic education is needed.

Solution

(a) Mass literacy programme should be organized by the government to educate farmers.

(b) Demonstration farms should be established in strategic locations to train farmers.

6. Transportation problem:

Lack of an efficient transport system also adversely affects agricultural production and development. The roads are generally poor and badly maintained. This makes it difficult for farmers to transport their products from villages to cities and forces them to sell at local markets at relatively low prices.

Solution

(a) The government should construct roads leading to food-producing areas.

(b) Construction of railways and waterways to link rural and riverine areas to urban centres.

(c) Rehabilitation of existing damaged road.

(d) A regular supply of fuel and spare parts at an affordable price to reduce transportation cost.

7. Inadequate storage and processing facilities:

The farmers lack adequate storage facilities to preserve or convert excess farm produce into another form. This result in wastage of a reasonable proportion of farm produce annually or the farmers are forced to dispose of them when prices are low thereby getting little returns.

Solution

(a) The government should provide modern storage facilities such as silos, cribs, cold rooms to farmers at an affordable price.

(b) The government should such as millers and threshers should be made available to farmers at a subsidized rate.

(c) Farmers should be educated on how to make use of modern processing and storage facilities.

(d) Private individuals and cooperate bodies should invest in the processing of agricultural produce.

Evaluation

1. Suggest two possible ways each to the problems of i) illiteracy of farmers ii) transportation in agricultural development

8. Poor marketing system:

The system through which agricultural products are been sold does not allow the farmer to get full benefit or reward for their labour, this discourages farmers from producing in large quantity.

Solution

(i) The government should stabilize prices of agricultural produce through the marketing board.

9. Problems of pests and diseases:

Pests, which are organisms capable of damaging farm produce and pathogens which are disease-causing organisms to render a lot of havoc to agricultural produce thereby reducing the quantity and quality. The cost of controlling these pests and diseases increases the cost of production. Pests and diseases reduce farmers’ income.

SOlution

(i) Pesticides and other agrochemicals should be made available to farmers at a subsidized rate.

(ii) Development of disease resistance varieties by the research institutes.

10. Poor agricultural inputs:

Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, machinery are not within the reach of farmers and some are expensive to purchase and maintain. This leads to reduction in farm yield.

Solution

(a) The government should subsidize the price of agricultural inputs

(b) Improved farm inputs should be made available to farmers at the right time.

11. Unfavourable climate:

This generally discourages serious farming activities. Low rainfall leads to a poor harvest of crops and low sunlight intensity reduces the rate of photosynthesis which eventually leads to low yield.

Solution

(a) Provision of irrigation facilities.

(b) Provision of drainage facilities

(c) Insurance policies.

12. Use of crude tools:

Farmers lack access to modern implement or machinery.  This affects the rate of production in their farms.

Solution

(a) Farmers should form co-operative societies to purchase modern machines and use them in turn.

(b) The government should encourage local fabrication of suitable intermediate machinery.

(c) Government should provide credit facilities to farmers to enable them to purchase modern machinery.

13. An inadequate number of extension workers:

There are few agricultural extension agents who own the responsibility of teaching the farmers the improved method of farming.

Solution

(i) There should be more training and employment of extension workers.

(ii) By providing more incentives to agricultural extension workers.

14. Inconsistent government policies on agriculture:

Government policies fail to recognize the peasant farmers that produce food for the country.  Most of the farmers do not have access to farm input provided through such policies.

Solution

(i) The government should formulate dynamic agricultural policies and implement them.

(ii) The policies should recognize genuine farmers (rural farmers)

15. Natural hazard/environmental degradation:

Some of the agricultural lands have been degraded due to the effect of flooding, soil erosion, water logging etc.

Solution

(a) Afforestation

(b) Planting of cover crops

(c) Terracing and strip cropping should be practised

(d) Insurance policies

Evaluation

1. Suggest two possible solutions to the problems of (i) crude tools (ii) natural hazards in agricultural development in Nigeria.

General evaluation

1. State five problems of agricultural development in Nigeria and suggest two possible solutions to each.
2. Who are extension agents?
3. Discuss the roles of agric extension in the development of agriculture in Nigeria.
4. Outline four possible solutions to the problem of natural hazard in agricultural development.
5. List five agricultural inputs

Reading assignment

Essential Agricultural Science; Chapter 1, page 6 – 11

Fundamental Agricultural Science. Chapter 1; page 5 – 10

Theory

1. List out five problems of agricultural development in Nigeria.
2. Suggest two possible solutions to each of the problems listed above

 

In our next class, we will be talking about the Roles of Government and Non-governmental Organizations in Agricultural Development.  We hope you enjoyed the class.

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