There is obviously
something wrong with
the approach taken so
far. Between 1960 and 1966, Nigeria was
far and away the leading world
producer of palm kernels, with an
annual production averaging over
400,000 metric tons and supplying 50%
of the total world consumption.
Whether we care to admit or not, we
are obviously doing something very
wrong if, after decades of interventions
(monetary, policy, etc), we‘re still this
far from getting it right. It can even be
argued that some interventions over
the years have actually taken the nation
backward in terms of being able to
boost export activity in the non-oil
sectors. As with palm kernels, Nigeria's annual
palm oil production was very high
during the first six years of
independence – over half a million
metric tons – and during those years,
the country was the biggest world
producer.
For context, it might be
necessary at this juncture to
go back a bit in time.
Until the mid to late 1950s, Nigeria‘s
earnings from agricultural commodity
exports--mainly cocoa, groundnuts,
palm oil, and palm kernels—far
outweighed the cost of merchandise
imports.
In other words, Nigeria‘s economy was
largely based on agriculture.
At Independence, Nigeria was second
only to Ghana among the top
producers of cocoa in the world and
this continued well into the seventies.
Until 1971, the volume of groundnuts
in shells produced in Nigeria oscillated
between one and two million metric
tons, making it the largest African
producer, one of the largest world
producers and the largest exporter in
the world.
The picture began to change in the
seventies. After reaching peak
production in 1970, Nigeria‘s cocoa
production began a decline that
continued until 1982, with 130, 000
metric tons exported that year. As at
2017, Nigeria recorded total cocoa
exports of 367,000 metric tons,
clocking in behind Cote d‘Ivoire
(1,448,992), Ghana (835,466) and
Indonesia (777,500).
In the area of palm oil, Nigeria‘s
current annual output is pegged at
970,000 metric tons, representing an