Agribusiness
in Nigeria: An
Overview
Agriculture has always been part and
parcel of the Nigerian economy, long
before crude oil was ever discovered in
Nigeria.
Back then, the country was famous for
its groundnut pyramids in the north,
the west for its cash crops, eastern
Nigeria for its palm oil plantations
among other things and the country
was a leading exporter of palm oil,
rubber, cotton, cocoa among other
agro-products. In terms of the
economy, the country was self-
sufficient. She was able to feed her
people and sustain her status as a net
exporter of agricultural products.
Importantly, unemployment was very
low and because most young people of
working age were gainfully employed
or engaged in some productive activity
or another, there was little to no
incidence of youth restiveness.
After the discovery of crude oil, a lot of
things changed. The economy slowly
7 The Export Brief | MAY 2018 | IEOM-NG.ORG
veered off the path of agriculture, and
in very little time, crude oil became our
major export. The rest is history. The
groundnut pyramids disappeared, the
plantations struggled to survive and the
entire agricultural sector in Nigeria
went into hibernation.
After several years of being one of the
world’s leading crude oil exporting
nations, a period which curiously
witnessed strong economic growth and
very little prosperity to show for it, the
Nigerian government under president
Goodluck Jonathan made a conscious
decision to revive and re-tool the
agricultural sector, and ultimately
return the country’s economy to its
agricultural roots. Nigeria’s agriculture
minister at the time, Dr. Akinwunmi
Adesina (currently President of the
African Development Bank) came to
embody that effort.
The government of President
Muhammadu Buhari has continued in
the same vein and is vigorously
pursuing several initiatives to drive the
growth of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The reality is that no country can
effectively develop without a strong
agricultural sector. That is more so the
case for sub-Saharan African countries
in general where it is estimated that
agriculture accounts for 65% of the