The problem of agricultural sector is that it has suffered from years of poor management, inconsistent and poorly implemented government policies, government neglect and lack of basic infrastructure which has affected the economic and inclusive growth of the Nigerian economy.
Due to also the neglect of the sector due to the oil boom of the 1970’s, Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of major cash crops such as; cocoa, groundnut, rubber and palm products. Coca production mostly from obsolete varieties and over-aged trees are stagnant at around 150,000 tones annually. Due to this decline in the production of food crops, a nation which was been depended on now depends on other nations for food crops.
Because of this backdrop, agriculture has not kept up with the rapid population growth and Nigeria once a large net exporter of for now imports most of its food requirements.
Dependence on oil is not only the cause of the under-development of the Nigerian agricultural sector, but also:
The Nigerian agriculture is characterized and surrounded by bunch of illiterate farmers who live in rural areas, producing over 90% of the total food consumed and other agricultural products and with regards to their educational status giving little or no room for improvement through scientific research.
The Nigerian agriculture lacks storage facilities and these have led to so much wastage and high cost of storage. This hinders the availability of source perishable agricultural produce through the year, therefore hindering agricultural development. 3. Another negative force is Dependence on weather which affects the increase in agricultural produce. Nigeria Agriculturists or farmers still depend on rainfall only to produce instead of the use of irrigation that supplies water all through the year.
The agricultural sector is poorly financed in Nigeria. They do not get credit easily from financial institutions, like commercial banks. The agriculturists find it difficult to finance projects which are capital intensive. The commercial banks cannot grant loans easily to a small scale farmer because of low produce and low profit which results to a failure in paying back the loan. In addition, the dependence on imported foods has disincentive investment in local farming.
Food processing problem is estimated that about 20 to 40% of the yearly harvest is lost during processing. The primary cause is the lack of efficient harvesting techniques. According to and with the information above, it is quite clear that the agricultural sector, as one of the Nigeria economy has really got a lot to contribute to the economic growth of the country.