Unlocking the Potential of Agriculture in Nigeria
Agriculture – A key driver of the Nigeria’s Economy
With a total land area of 92 million hectares and favourable weather conditions, agriculture has remained one of the drivers of Nigeria’s economy, contributing $112 billion to its GDP in 2013. On 28.2 million hectares of arable land, a wide range of food crops and cash crops is produced in Nigeria such as cocoa, cassava, yam, corn, cocoyam, cow-pea, beans, sweet potato, millet, plantain, banana, rice, sorghum, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.
As a whole, Nigeria’s agricultural land of 83.6 million hectares is composed of arable land, irrigable land, permanent crops, forest/wood and pastures.
Composition of Nigeria’s Agricultural Land
Asides the food and cash crops produced, diverse kinds of fishery and livestock are produced and bred in the country – majority of which are consumed locally. According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) consumption report (2010), over N1.3trillion worth of poultry, meats, seafood and dairy products are consumed yearly.
In 2013, the agricultural sector contributed about 23.3% of rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With two-thirds of the nation’s total labour force in agriculture, the sector largely caters to the livelihood of the nation’s rural population.
Agriculture’s Contribution to Nigeria’s GDP (2010 – 2013)
According to the 2013 Foreign Trade Statistics report published by NBS, agriculture sector has also contributed to the development of the nation’s economy through the provision of raw materials for agro-based industries and export revenues of N103 billion in 2013.
