Value chain analyses of selected commodities and strategies of the Nigeria Agricultural sector for meeting national food security

Abstract

Arising from the recurring under-performing nature of the Nigeria’s Agriculture sector, the present administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan introduced an ambitious Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) which aims at achieving a hunger free Nigeria through assorted thematic strategies, involving commodity and financial value chains. These strategies are expected to reduce the risk of implementation failure by defining delivery mechanisms and linkages among the various stakeholders. This paper essentially highlights and discusses ATA implementation strategies and stresses areas requiring focus and adjustments. This study depends mainly on secondary information and content analysis. It revealed that urgent steps need to be taken with respect to: role clarification within the institutional structure; administration of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme with due cognizance to existing farmers’ capacity; unclear linkage of extension to the input support system and the confederating extension approaches; enhancing synergy between ATA and the on-going programmes/projects; inadequate investment in the sector/low budget implementation; weak policy enforcement cum framework for biotechnology. The ATA strategies are robust and pragmatic enough to facilitate the achievements of the proposed targets and achieve the ultimate objective of food security, however, key adjustments in the weaknesses highlighted, needed to be made in order to move the implementation of the Agenda forward.