FOOD CROP PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA SINCE 1914: GEO-HISTORICAL ANALYSES OF PROGRESS AND RETROGRESS

ABSTRACT

The main branch of agriculture is crop cultivation/ production, which in Nigeria is one of the mainstreams of the economy as it provides food security, employment and income for over 90% of indigenous population. However, in most parts of the country, agricultural holdings have been small and scattered, and farming is carried out with simple tools. This paper tries to portray the doted and sporadic attention given to the sector both spatially and temporally as a result of differential federal, regional and state governments’ priority interests as well as inconsistent federal government’s agricultural policies and programmes and a host of other reasons. Large-scale food crop production is not common. Literature (secondary data) and content analysis were mainly used for the production of this paper. The study indicates that since 1914,progresses and retrogresses have been experienced by the crop production system all over the country. This paper therefore shows that right from the period of colonial administration, the crop production sector in the country has suffered from sporadic attention in its development. Incapacity of food production to meet the needs of the rising teeming population and inability of producers to re-invest in land has also been the resultant effect. The federal government’s effort to play a leading role in the nation’s agricultural modernization still remains the problem if not for some state governments’ efforts.  Among others, this paper concludes by suggesting that issues of crop production should be considered as security issue and non-partisan. Under the present dispensation of a change mantra, a boost in the agricultural production as an element of the diversification is expected to be given much more priority than ever before.

Keywords: Agriculture; Crop Production; Diversification; Modernization