Agricultural Productivity and Poverty Alleviation Issues:The Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

This paper reviews the pre and post independence agricultural productivity and poverty alleviation issues in Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and secondary data were adopted in the discussion. The review indicated that a laudable performance was recorded in pre-independence period due to the establishment of model research farms., Physical rural infrastructures like motor, roads and railways for easy evacuation of farm products, commodity boards for stability of producer prices, promotion of quality of export crops, providing stable market outlet for export crops and generating foreign reserves. All these resulted in the promotion of employment in both production and post-production of agricultural activities. Rural disposable income was high and this generated high demand for consumable goods in rural areas. Surpluses generated from foreign trade were used to finance a large number of development projects. In contrast, in post- independence period, the structure of rural infrastructure began to collapse with negative impact. Average growth rate for palm oil expenditure between 1935- 1939 was 30.88% and it dropped to 7.5 post-independence. Also, food crop productivity dropped, poverty level rose and food import bill escalated. This paper therefore recommends the pre-independence model for Nigeria to use. This will encourage increase in Agricultural productivity, income level and consequently reduce poverty.