Having known brief history of agriculture let's now have an overview of the brief history of Agriculture in Nigeria. Prior to the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria in 1956 at Oloibiri agriculture formed the major source of Nigeria foreign exchange earnings. Despite the discovery of crude oil, Nigeria economy is still sustained by agriculture thus making the agricultural sector to play a central role in the Nigeria economy. The World Bank estimated that Nigeria agricultural GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.9% (1990-1998). Irrespective of the under exploitation of agriculture in Nigeria, it still remains a viable part of the Nigeria economy in terms of job opportunities. It is said to account for about 70% of employment for the Nigeria labour force population.
The history of Nigeria agriculture coincides with her political history in so many ways. This is is because the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods have some agricultural events tired to them. Before the pre-colonial period, agriculture was the basis on which the Nigeria economy thrived. In the colonial period (1861-1960) less or no agricultural activities was done. That was because it was a period when extensive researches about agriculture were carried out. From 1962-1968 (the post-colonial period) there were significant interest and importance geared towards agriculture. It was a time that plans were made to Nigeria agricultural development. During this period new methods of agricultural practises(e.g use of modern farm equipment, farm settlements, farm co-operative societies, etc ) were effected. This era also led to the setting up of major aricultural programmes like the National Accelerated Food Production Programme in 1972(NAFPP), River Basin and Rural Development Authorities(RBRDA) in 1976, Farm Settlement Schemes, Operation Feed the Nation(OFN) in 1976, Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) funded by the World Bank and the Green Revolution Programme (GRP) in 1980. The sharp decline in agricultural activities was due to the discovery of crude oil, growth of the Nigeria minning and manufacturing sectors and lack of willingness to fully explore the agricultural sector. The decline in agricultural activities thereby encouraged importation by a large percentage annually. However, as time went by(early 1960s), several agricultural research institutes were established in a bid to correct the sharp decline in the Nigeria agricultural sector. Some of these established institutes are International Livestock Centre for Africa(ILCA), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA) and Agricultural Extension and Research and Liason Service(AERLS) in 1963.
Since the inception of agriclture in Nigeria so much transformation has taken place as a result of various developmental policies meant to boost commercialization either on a small, medium or large scale. Some of the major plants/crops grown in Nigeria are cassava, plaintains/bananas, groundnuts, onions, rubber, yams, cashew, coco yams, maize, beans, kolanuts, mellon, millet, guinea corn(sorghum), potatoes, soybeans, cowpeas, benniseed, sesame, oil palm, spinach, water leaf, pumpkin, pepper, cocoa, rice, carrot, mango, guava, pineaples, lettuce, citrus, and others too numerous to mention. Nigeria is also known for the raising of animals and their bye-products(hides & skins, etc). The livestocks include cattle, goats, pigs, sheep, rams, fishes, poultry, to mention but a few.
Despite the fact that Nigeria has large expanse of land of 92.4 milion hectares) only 91 million of hectares is said to be be available for cultivation from which only about half of this cultivable land is put into use permanently or for cultivation of arable crops while the rest are uesd for forest and pasture . This is tied to so many factors either as a result of over dependence on the crude oil or negligence on the part of the the people and government about the potential of this yet to be fully harnessed sector of the Nigeria economy. The most common system of agricultural system practised then was bush fallow in which the land is cultivated for a number of years and later left uncultivated for some periods of time to enable the land regain its lost fertility. The lands were equally used for pasturing. This pasturing encouraged the raising of livestocks. A good portion of the Nigeria land is covered by forests and wordlands which encouraged their use for timber production. In the history of agriculture in Nigeria very simple tools were used not until recently they started using sophisticated agricultural equipment and tools. There are different land aquisition processes(land tenure systems) which may be by gift, communal, inheritance, leasing, renting, and tenancy by the will of the government.
Nigeria agricultural products are either exported or consumed locally. However, where necessary, Nigeria also import those agricultural products that are needed which are either not produced locally or those that are produced locally but can't meet the demands of her citizens. The inability to produce them in large quanties are due to some factors. Bulk of the edible crops produced locally or imported form part of the staple food of Nigeria. These various crops are cultivated throughout the various parts of Nigeria such as the Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern parts. The cultivation of these crops in different parts of Nigeria is mainly determined by the various climatic factors.There was an increase in Nigeria agricultural production as at 1973 after the civil war because the civil war affected agricultural productions.The Nigeria crops earn her foreign exchange. While all the cash crops earn Nigeria foreign exchange, the notable and largest exported ones are cocoa and rubber.
Trade, business or investment opportunities are available in Nigeria not only in the oil & gas sector, minning sector, manufacturing sector but also in the agricultural sector especially now that the Nigeria government is putting in place good economic policies. The essence of the Nigeria agricultural sector is to see the Nigeria economy beyond the oil sector which is the country's highest source of foreign exchange. This is because the agricultural sector has not been fully tapped- this makes the Nigeria agricultural sector open for trade, business or investment opportunities with inevitable good returns once tapped. This is where Nigeria To Me comes in.
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