Agricultural Policies In Nigeria From 1972 Till Date


A lot of people weren't born at the time when Agriculture
was the main source of income for the Nigerian economy,back then it accounted for about 71% of Nigerian foreign exchange earnings.

 If we look back to the days of the giant ground nut pyramids of the North, the palm oil of the east, and the cocoa plantation located in South West Nigeria,you will indeed notice that Nigeria has fallen off from it's former glory,there was indeed a time when Nigeria was a powerhouse of Agriculture in Africa,this period was also as a result of the influence of the British that coordinated the affairs of Nigeria's Agriculture.
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This changed dramatically when Nigeria gained independence and began to handle it's own affairs.

We are going to take a look at some of Nigeria's agricultural policies from 1972 to 2016,2017 and present day,and also check out the major reason why almost all the Agricultural policies set up by different governments has eventually failed.
Agricultural Policies In Nigeria From 1972 Till Date


Agricultural policies are simply policies set up by the ruling government in other to boost the country’s Agricultural sector.
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Since 1972 till today,shortly after Independence Nigeria began to handle it's own affairs and implemented some of these Agricultural policies,let's quickly take a look at some of these policies.

1. National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP)

1972-1973


The National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP) was a policy set up by the then Nigerian government in other to increase food production and eliminate rural poverty,also at the national level,the aim of the programme

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was to achieve food security and to increase the demands of staple foods such as cassava, garri, yam, potato etc against more expensive carbohydrate food such as rice.

This program was a failure as it failed to achieve it's objectives.

2. Operation Feed the Nation (OFN)

1976-1980

The Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) was an Agricultural policy set up by the then military government of Nigerian in an effort to achieve food security. 
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This agricultural program lasted for about four years and also didn't achieve it's set out goals.

3. Green Revolution Programme (GRP)

1981-1983

The green revolution program was a major initiative by the then government of Shehu Shagari,the agricultural program which was kicked off in April 1980 was aimed at ensuring self sufficiency in food production and also to introduce modern technology into the Nigerian agricultural sector.

 The program also tried to introduce modern methods of farming such as high yielding varieties of seeds, fertilizers,tractors etc in other to boost the Agriculture sector.

This programme wasn't a success and discontinued two years later.

4. Back To Land Programme

1983-1985

The back to land programme was an Agricultural programme that was established by the military government of President Buhari.
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This initiative was spearheaded by Idiagbon in 1984,the aim of the back to land programme was to implement a policy that will encourage massive agricultural food production and also to alleviate poverty.
This programme failed two year later.

5. Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP)

2016 -

The Anchor Borrowers Programme was a response by the democratic government of president Buhari after banning the importation of rice through it's land borders in 2016.

The ban was implemented in other to boost the production of local rice in Nigeria. The CBN released N40 billion for the ''Anchor Borrowers Programme  (ABP) for Rice farmers.

The program was designed to assist small scale farmers to increase agriculture production specifically rice production. The proogramme was effectively launched in 14 states which includes Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Admawa, Plateau, Lagos, Ogun, Cross-Rivers and Ebonyi state.

6. The Green Alternative

2016 - 2020


The Green Alternative is one of the present initiative of the government through the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
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The aim of the policy which is expected to run till 2020 is to boost food production in the country and allow farmers to have access to land,information,storage etc

 In Conclusion:

 Listed above are the list of all the Agricultural policies in Nigeria till date,it can be seen that previous Agriculture policies implemented by previous government such as The OFN,NAFPP,GRP and Back To Land Programme was a failure,one of the reason for this was corruption and also not actively consulting and involving the local farmers before and after the enactment of policies.
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Fast forward to present day Agricultural policies of 2016/2017,there hasn't been any significant improvement after these new policies were formed,for example Nigeria needs more than 6.5 million metric tons of rice and currently only 1.5 million metric tons is produced locally,also hunger and poverty is at an all time high in the country.

 Do you think that these new Agricultural policies will improve the Nigerian agricultural sector and boost food production?

 Let's know what your thoughts concerning this issue.

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