Enhancing Agricultural Value Chains Crucial to Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth in Nigeria

Nigeria is blessed with arable land mass and human resources however she is bedeviled with a crawling economy characterised by high unemployment rate, poverty and low per capita income. The ability of agriculture to contribute tremendously to economic growth is inherent if only the agricultural value chains in Nigeria are well developed. Adopting an exploratory approach, this paper examines the contribution of agriculture to GDP from 1981 to 2021; identifies the different stages of the agricultural value chain and the broad factors affecting them in Nigeria. It observed that for the past 40 years, the contribution of Agriculture to GDP has been low compared to the 1960s when agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. In addition more emphasis has been on input supply stage of the value chain while less attention has been given to other stages. In order to achieve the desired economic growth in Nigeria, a review of existing policies and removal of bottle necks in the production, processing and trade of agricultural products are recommended. Key words : Nigeria, economic growth, agriculture, value-chain, GDP DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-33-14 Publication date: November 30 th 2022