POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF …

VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY

BIOECONOMY DEVELOPMENT FACULTY

Institute of Business and Rural Development Research

Samuel Mudiaga Egbegbadia

POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF

AGRIBUSINESS IN NIGERIA: EKITI STATE CASE ANALYSIS

Master‘s Thesis

Agri-food Business Manangement study programme, state code 6281LX006

Management study field

Supervisor Prof. Dr. Rimantas Dapkus __________ ___________

(Signature) (Date)

Defended Prof. Dr. Jan Žukovskis _____________ __________

(Director of Institute) (Signature) (Date)

Akademija, 2021

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Final theses evaluation committee:

(Approved by the Chancellor's Ordinance No. ŽŪA-2021-…, …28th ….May, 2021)

Chair Assist. Prof. Dr. Anne Poder, Estonia University of Life Science

Members:

1. Raul Omel, Estonia University of Life Science

2. Prof. Dr. Ulle Parl, Tartu University

3. Henrik Gunnar Soren Arvidasson ,Entrepreneur

4. Prof. Dr. Gunta Grinberga Zalite , Latvia university of Life science

5. Prof. Dr. Rimantas Dapkus, Vytautas Magnus University

Supervisor Prof. Dr. Rimantas Dapkus, Vytautas Magnus University

Reviewer ………………....

Head of the Institute Prof. Dr. Jan Žukovskis, Vytautas Magnus University

3

SUMMARY

Samuel Mudiaga EGBEGBADIA

POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF AGRIBUSINESS IN

NIGERIA: EKITI STATE CASE ANALYSIS

Final work of Master’s Studies 83 pages, 52 references, 9 figures, 20 tables; in English.

Object of Research: Possibilities for sustainable growth of Agribusiness in Nigeria: Ekiti state

case analysis

Overall goal of the Research: To suggest strategies and solutions for the Agriculture business

sustainable development in Nigeria (employing Ekiti state case analysis).

This is believed to further enhance the study to achieve the following objectives:

1. To review relevant scientific materials in Agribusiness and their performance in Nigeria

2. To identify the challenges of Agribusiness in the Ekiti state and Nigeria at large and to evaluate

the potentiality of Agriculture in generating employment in Ekiti state, thus reducing

unemployment rate in Nigeria and also to generate adequate food supply in Nigeria.

3. To carry out a survey to identify measures to improve the performance of Agribusiness in Ekiti

state and Nigeria at large.

4. To prepare suggestion for Ekiti state administration and for potential industries and companies

in order to promote investments and agri-business development.

Research Method: The research involves the theoretical analysis of Agribusiness in Ekiti state

using secondary sources and primary data sources for deduction and induction. A cases study

analysis is done using graphic and statistics representation. The research method adopted both

quantitative and qualitative research approach which is to acquire detailed information based on

knowledge and experiences of participants.

Research Result: The theoretical aspects such as the concept of the object of study. The

performance of Agribusiness in Nigeria, Factors affecting the Agribusiness in Nigeria. The second

section contains the methodological approach for the empirical study, ethical consideration and the

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limitations of study etc. While the third part contains the presentation of the empirical research

based on the research outcome and PEST, SWOT analysis; the last part focuses on the strategies

for improving the state of agriculture and agribusiness in Nigeria which suggest that in conjunction

with private company, the government have a huge role to play in improving the agribusiness in

Nigeria. The summary, conclusion research was presented based on final outcome of the thesis.

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SANTRAUKA

Samuel Mudiaga EGBEGBADIA

ŽEMĖS ŪKIO AUGIMO NIGERIJOJE GALIMYBĖS: EKITI VALSTIJOS ATVEJO ANALIZĖ

Magistro studijų baigiamasis darbas 83 puslapiai, 52 šaltiniai, 9 paveikslai, 20 lentelių; angliškai.

Tyrimo objektas: Darnaus žemės ūkio verslo augimo Nigerijoje galimybės: Ekiti valstijos atvejo

analizė

Tyrimo tikslas: Pasiūlyti tvaraus žemės ūkio verslo vystymo strategijas ir sprendimus Nigerijoje

(naudojant Ekiti valstijos atvejo analizę).

Siekiant tyrimo tikslo bus sprendžiami šie uždaviniai:

1. Apžvelgti aktualią agroverslo mokslinę literatūrą ir agroverslo rezultatus Nigerijoje;

2. Nustatyti agroverslo iššūkius Ekičio valstijoje ir apskritai Nigerijoje bei įvertinti žemės ūkio

potencialą ir užimtumo Ekičio valstijoje didinimo galimybes, siekiant Nigerijoje sumažinti nedarbo

lygį ir užtikrinti pakankamą visuomenės aprūpinimą maistu.

3. Atlikti tyrimą, siekiant nustatyti priemones, skirtas pagerinti žemės ūkio verslą Ekiti valstijoje ir

apskritai Nigerijoje.

4. Parengti rekomendacijas Ekiti valstijos administracijai, potencialioms pramonės šakoms ir

įmonėms, siekiant skatinti investicijas ir žemės ūkio verslo plėtrą.

Tyrimo metodai: tyrimas apima žemės ūkio verslo Ekiti valstijoje teorinę analizę naudojant dedukciją

ir indukciją, analizuojant antrinius duomenų šaltinius ir renkant bei analizuojant pirminius duomenis.

Atvejų analizė atliekama naudojant grafinį ir statistinį vaizdavimą. Pritaikyti tiek kiekybinį, tiek ir

kokybinį tyrimo metodus, siekiant gauti išsamią informaciją, pagrįstą dalyvių žiniomis ir patirtimi.

Tyrimo rezultatas: Pirmame skyriuje aptariami teoriniai aspektai. Žemės ūkio verslo Nigerijoje

situacijos analizė ir žemės ūkio verslą Nigerijoje veikiančių veiksnių identifikavimas. Antrame

skyriuje pateikiamas empirinio tyrimo metodinis požiūris, etinis svarstymas ir tyrimo apribojimai.

Trečiojoje dalyje pateikiamas empirinio tyrimo, PEST, SSGG analizių pristatymas. Paskutinėje

dalyje pagrindinis dėmesys skiriamas Nigerijos žemės ūkio ir agroverslo būklės gerinimo

strategijoms, kurios rodo, kad vyriausybė kartu su privačiu verslu turi atlikti didžiulį vaidmenį

gerinant žemės ūkio verslą Nigerijoje. Santrauka, išvadų tyrimas buvo pateiktas remiantis galutiniu

darbo rezultatu.

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Contents

SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

SANTRAUKA ................................................................................................................................................... 5

List of Figures .................................................................................................................................................... 7

List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 8

GLOSARY OF KEY CONCEPTS .................................................................................................................. 10

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 11

1. THEORETCICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF AGRIBUSINESS

MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION IN EKITI STATE ............................................................................. 16

1.1 The Dual Sector Theory ................................................................................................................... 16

1.2. Schultz Traditional Agriculture Theory ........................................................................................... 18

1.3. Agriculture and Nigerian Economy ................................................................................................. 20

1.4. Concept of Agribusiness .................................................................................................................. 23

1.5. Importance of Agribusiness Development in Nigeria towards Sustainable growth ......................... 27

2. ANALYSIS OF THE CASE STUDY OF AGRIBUSINESS IN EKITI STATE .................................... 35

2.1 METHODOLOGY OF CASE STUDY OF AGRIBUSINESS IN EKITI STATE.......................... 35

2.2. Analysis of Research performance of cocoa supply chain using in Ondo state ............................... 39

2.3. Quantitative analysis of respondents from Farmers in Ekiti state .................................................... 40

2.4. Qualitative Research Analysis of respondents who are farmers ...................................................... 61

3. PEST AND SWOT ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN EKITI STATE ........ 66

3.1. PEST analysis for the promotion of Agribusiness in Ekiti State ...................................................... 66

3.2. SWOT analysis of initiatives towards improvement of Agriculture towards sustainable

agribusiness in Ekiti state. ............................................................................................................................ 69

4. POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF AGRIBUSINESS IN EKITI STATE ..... 74

Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................ 78

References ........................................................................................................................................................ 80

ANNEXES ....................................................................................................................................................... 84

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List of Figures

FIGURE 1: THE TREND OF AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT BETWEEN 1980-2003 (SOURCE:

AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 2: ANALYSIS OF GENDER OF RESPONDENTS (SOURCE: AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 3: ANALYSIS OF AGE OF RESPONDENTS (SOURCE: AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 4: ANALYSIS OF YEARS OF EXPERIENCE OF RESPONDENTS (SOURCE:

AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 5: ANALYSIS OF THE CATEGORY OF FARM SCALE (SOURCE: AUTHOR,

2021)

FIGURE 6: ANALYSIS OF THE TYPE OF CROPS FARMED (SOURCE: AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 7: ANALYSIS ON THE AVAILABILITY OF LABOUR (SOURCE: AUTHOR,

2021)

FIGURE 8: ANALYSIS OF AGE RANGE OF INDIVIDUALS READY TO WORK AS LABOR

(SOURCE: AUTHOR, 2021)

FIGURE 9: ANALYSIS OF FARMERS THAT BELONG TO FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION

(SOURCE: AUTHOR, 2021)

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List of Tables

TABLE 1: BUDGETARY ALLOCATION TO AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA BETWEEN

1990-2002

TABLE 2: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES IN NIGERIA

TABLE 3: SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN EKITI STATE

TABLE 4: ANALYSIS OF THE RATE OF PERFORMANCE OF FARMING IN TERMS

OF BUSINESS SUCCESS.

TABLE 5: ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONDENTS EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION

TABLE 6: ANALYSIS ON THE DESCRIPTION OF MARKET FOR FARM PRODUCE

TABLE 7: ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN

GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMERS

TABLE 8: ANALYSIS OF AVAILABILITY OF INFRASTRUCTURE

TABLE 9: ANALYSIS OF AVAILABILITY OF MODERN EQUIPMENT FOR EASY

FARMING

TABLE 10: ANALYSIS OF ACCESS TO LOAN

TABLE 11: ASSISTANCE FROM PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS

TABLE 12: ANALYSIS OF THE INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURAL SUPPORTS

FACILITIES IN YOUR COMMUNITY SUCH AS ROADS, IRRIGATION ETC

TABLE 13: ANALYSIS ON THE EASE OF FARMING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN

TERMS ACCESS TO LAND, IMPROVED SEEDLINGS, FERTILIZERS ETC

TABLE 14: ANALYSIS ON RESEARCH INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE THE FARMING

THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANT SEEDING TO DISEASE/ PEST AND

REPLANTING IN THE STATE (EG. THE COCOA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF

NIGERIA –CRIN)

TABLE 15: SUPPORTS FOR FARMER’S INCENTIVES AND FARM EXTENSION

WORKERS

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TABLE 16: ANALYSIS OF THE FORM OF INCENTIVE DOES FARMERS/ FARM

EXTENSION WORKERS ENJOY

TABLE 17: POLICIES ON PRICE CONTROL AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION TO

FARMERS BENEFICIAL TO FARMERS

TABLE 18: DEVELOPMENT OF EFFORTS AT COLLABORATIVE PLANNING FOR

IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY METHODS OF FARMING IN THE STATE FOR

BETTER OUTPUT (STATE AND FARMER’S ASSOCIATION)

TABLE 19: ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW

TABLE 20: SWOT ANALYSIS

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GLOSARY OF KEY CONCEPTS

Sustainable Growth: The concept “Sustainable growth” refers to the ability of an individual

or an entity to meet up with its own need without the need to

compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Agribusiness: The term “agribusiness” as defined by Downey & Erickson (1987) refers to all

the business and management activities that are carried out by firms that

provide inputs performed by firms that provide inputs to the farm sector,

produce farm products, and/or process, transport, finance, handle or market

farm products.

AFA: All Farmers Association

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INTRODUCTION

Prior to the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria, Agriculture was the major source of economy

through which many capital projects were executed; projects such as building of schools, creating

good roads, and the most popular of them is the prominent cocoa house in Ibadan, Oyo state of

Nigeria. The 23-story building built with the proceeds generated from the cultivation of cocoa stays

perhaps the most noticeable accomplishments of the early leaders in the South-Western part of

Nigeria (Wahab 2020). This ascertain that there was a time when the political leaders held Agriculture

with high esteem and the 23-storey building in Ibadan today is a vivid example of what proceeds from

cocoa was used for. According to Egwaikhide (2014) During the 1940s to 1950s, more than 75% of

Nigeria yearly product trade items were from the agriculture sector. The Nigeria economy was

dominated by the agricultural sector and foreign trade of agricultural products has greatly improved

the economy (Kevin Akpososo Ufiobor, 2017).

Recently, the power of Agriculture has been underrated, which has led to the reduction of

funds allocated to the Agricultural sector. A portion of the reasons distinguished by past authors

include the over-dependence on oil as the Nigerian source of foreign exchange, small farm holdings,

low yield, inconsistent production pattern, disease incidence, pest attack as well as climate change

(Oluyole and Sanusi, 2019). Hence, the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria spurred the Nigerian

government to underrate the potentials of Agriculture and shift their attentions to the crude oil

exploration while neglecting Agricultural capabilities of procuring solutions to the poverty rate in

Nigeria.

The Nigerian Agricultural sector which is divided into crop production, Forestry, Livestock,

and Fishing generated more income from the exportation of rubber, palm oil, coffee, groundnut, palm

kernel and cocoa, which played important roles in developing the country around this period, part of

what we still see today in the country. Afolayan (2017) affirms that Nigeria was situated as the major

producer of cocoa in the West Africa region while cocoa was situated as the fundamental source of

new exchange laborer for the country during this period. However, Nigeria shifted her attention from

the Agribusiness to the newly discovered crude oil in 1970, a sector which was regarded as a moderate

contributor to the economy now becomes very important. A report from CBN (2011) indicates that

Nigeria is over dependent on the oil sector, it provides 95% of the foreign exchange earnings and

65% of the national budget revenues. Hence, Nigeria has monopolize with focus on the exploration

of crude oil in Nigeria which has led to the decline of other sectors that possesses the potential of

bringing stable income into the country’s economy. Sectors like Education, Health, Aviation,

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Tourism, Agriculture, etc. have been neglected while the country monopolizes the oil sector as the

country’s sole source of income.

The country is well endowed with cultivable land, forests, very good climatic and weather

condition, livestock, bountiful mineral resources e.g. tin, copper, crude oil and natural gas. The

country has great potentials to compete with the most industrialized nations of the west when it comes

to economy which has been negatively affected as a result of the fall in oil price has shown clearly

the negligence of the government over the years in developing other sectors of the economy (Odupitan

2017, p. 3)

This has led to the unemployment and poverty at the increase end. Graduates who could have

function effectively at these neglected sectors have nowhere to experiment their expertise as a result

of the government’s lackadaisical attitude about these sectors. These and many other factors

instigated this research work because Nigeria government has failed to recognize and harness the

potential of the Agricultural and Agribusiness to boost the socio-economic dimension of the country.

While relying on the crude oil, the Nigerian government, unlike other developed countries

have failed to diversify the economy of the country by not recognizing the potentiality of the

Agribusiness and other lucrative sectors in providing employment, generating sustainable economic

programmes, home feeding, establishment of industries who are in search of these raw materials to

be processed and reproduced to finished products. This monopolization has led to series of debate

among scholars finding solution to this downslope in Nigeria’s economy. The results of series of

research have proclaimed that recognizing the potentials in other sectors and investing in them is the

only solution to this problem. In any case, an open door is available and accessible for these areas to

be exploited in the most ideal manner; this clears the route for the economy to be on the way of

diversification, sustainable economic growth as well as a well improved living standards. (Odupitan,

2017). Therefore, if sectors like the Agricultural sector is recognized and invested in, it will serve as

inspirations to companies who are in need of the raw materials, produced in our farms to establish in

Nigeria.

Past activities and investment in Agriculture has proved that Nigeria can survive with

Agribusiness and be recognized globally for this. A report published by PWC shows that as at early

1960, Nigeria is the largest producer of palm oil in the world; while report also indicates that the rich

nature of Nigeria at producing palm oil which spurred many countries into investing in it. However,

when Nigeria failed to believe in the power of Agriculture, countries like Malaysia has overtaken

Nigeria; Malaysia is regarded as the largest producer of palm oil in the world today. Against this

backdrop, this points to the fact that Agriculture has the potential to lift Nigeria from this current state

which the country is grappling to survive from because the palm trees that ought to be conserved and

13

preserved for provision of employment opportunities, are being uprooted and fallen on daily basis for

palm wine. Thence, there is a need for Nigeria to trace her steps back and recognize the potentiality

of Agriculture in generating employment and save the country from this unemployment rate, generate

adequate food because majority of the Nigeria population live in abject poverty, and reduction of

inflation rate in the country while also enticing industries and companies to establish and invest in

the country. Although, there are efforts by local farmers to restore this past glory but their efforts are

not enough without efforts from the government. Thus the Agricultural export remains under 5%

since the introduction of structural adjustment programme, while the oil sector dominates the export

trade (Oni, 2017).

However, to make the agribusiness sustainable in Nigeria, there is a need for food security,

improvement on living standard and so on. Schaller (2013) highlights that when it comes to

sustainability, food security has to be guaranteed, the living standard has to improve, and there have

to be economic development and prosperity in the rural area. Hence, the commercialization of

Agricultural as well as investment becomes some key strategies for that could enhance the promotion,

modernizing and attaining a sustainable growth and development. However, one challenge for

Nigeria is recognizing the limitations that have proven to be a limit the growth and development of

the agricultural sector, not only that but to eliminate them and supplant them with something better

that will attract investors and along these lines to improve the area same way with the economy. In

2013, CBN reports that the Agriculture sector contributed about 22% of Nigeria GDP while Crude

Oil 14% telecommunication 9% and manufacturing 7% (US Department of State, 2014).

Administrations, media communications, finance and construction contributes about 52% of the

GDP, and at 2016 the agricultural sector contributed 24.18% of the GDP more than oil and assembling

joined (CBN, 2016). Therefore, Nigeria can still become great like it was in the past if the economy

is diversified and agriculture regarded as one of the major source of income in the country. Hence

there is a need to study the sustainable growth of Agribusiness in Marketing and Distribution in

Nigeria.

Object of Research

The study aims at investigating the problems hindering the possibilities sustainable a growth

of agribusiness in Ekiti state, thus serving as a model for other states with the potential of starting an

Agribusiness which will eventually open the government’s eyes towards the potentiality of

Agribusiness in Nigeria.

Task of Research: The task of this research shall include but not limited to professing

strategies, and solutions to the sustainable growth of Agriculture and distribution in Nigeria. This is

believed to further enhance the study to achieve the following objectives:

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1. To evaluate the potentiality of Agriculture in generating employment in Ekiti state,

thus reducing unemployment rate in Nigeria and also to generate adequate food supply in Nigeria

2. To prepare Ekiti state for potential industries and companies to invest and establish in

the country.

3. To review relevant scientific materials in Agribusiness and their performance in

Nigeria.

4. To identify the challenges of Agribusiness in the Ekiti state and Nigeria at large.

5. To carry out a survey to identify measures to improve the performance of Agribusiness

in Ekiti state and Nigeria at large.

Research Methods

The nature of this research which involves the analysis of literature available on Agribusiness

and sustainable agricultural growth in Nigeria informs the use of secondary sources and primary data

sources for deduction and induction. Also, Graphic and statistic representation will be employed to

represent the case. Against this backdrop, the study will adopts the use of qualitative and quantitative

research approaches which is believed will enable the researcher to acquire detailed information based

on knowledge and experiences of participants. This method involves the researcher acquiring data

from both the primary and secondary sources. As stated earlier, while the secondary sources includes

the review of existing literatures in the form of journals, statistics publications and so on in this field,

which helps to derive knowledge and understand the Agribusiness and Agricultural growth in Nigeria,

the primary data will be sourced from a survey using interview not only to derive information from

respondents but also to observe their expression towards information being given, thereby adding the

knowledge on the subject of study.

However, the respondents are drawn from the local farmer’s associations and persons in other

relevant agency in the area of this study. The researcher resulted to using members of this association

because of their understanding of the subject of study, knowledge and experience in the research to

help achieve the aim of the study. Against this backdrop, the data derived will be analyzed, presented

for proper understanding of outcome and recommendations made in line with the stated objectives of

study.

Research Structure:

In line with the institution where this research will be carried out, the research will include and

introduction to the subject of study which is the Sustainable growth of Agribusiness marketing and

distribution in Nigeria. This section will include the statement of the research problem, its

15

significance; statement of the research objectives, questions with the purpose of suggesting ways of

improving Agriculture and Agribusiness in Nigeria. The first section will focus on the theoretical

aspects such as the concept of sustainable growth in Agriculture, Agriculture and Nigerian Economy,

Agriculture and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria, Challenges of Nigerian Agricultural sector which will

focus on Marketing problem, storage and Processing, Poor Infrastructure, Agricultural labour,

Inadequate capital, Poor Policy Articulation, Dual sector model by Lewin and Schultz theory of

Traditional Agriculture among others.

The second section will focus on the methodological approach for the empirical study, ethical

consideration and the limitations of study and the presentation of the empirical research based on the

research outcome etc. While the third will contains, SWOT analysis and Nigeria Agriculture, the

fourth part will contain the strategies for improving Agri-business and distribution in Nigeria while

also projecting Agribusiness potentiality as a major source of Nigeria’s source of economy.

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1. THEORETCICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF AGRIBUSINESS

MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION IN EKITI STATE

1.1 The Dual Sector Theory

This theory focuses on the issues identified with underlying change and economic growth

problems identified with structural and economic change and growth. Here, Lewi challenged us,

utilizing this theory to expand on ways to solve problems of significant worry to the less developed

nations. Like most growth scholars, Lewis liked to regard skills as a type of heterogeneous capital as

opposed to regarding them as a trait of laborers. Although, he never failed to recognize the importance

of the human capital when he say that even the unskilled worker is of more use to the capitalist sector

after he has been there for some time than is the raw recruit from the country (Lewis 1954); hence,

the skilled labor might well be a bottleneck in an expanding economy.

Lewis highlights the existence of two sectors, in any given economy. The capitalist and the

subsistence sectors with abundance work; he finds in this, the seed for the subsistence sector. While

the theory acknowledges that the huge nature of the capitalist sector is that it uses reproducible capital

what's more, that it produces benefit, there is excess work from the subsistence sector, the capitalist

sector, draws its work from the subsistence sector and because of fast expansions in populace in as

of now thickly populated nations, the supply of unskilled labor work is restricted, subsequently the

capitalist have the ability to try and utilize a greater amount of this incompetent workers to build the

supply rate. What this implies is that in the subsistence sector, labor is employed up to the point where

its marginal product is zero while the capitalist sector labor will be employed up to the point where

its marginal products equals the wage rate (Gary, 2011).

Lewis' thought that capitalists or governments would rapidly contribute to soothe human

resources bottlenecks appears to have been excessively hopeful. A business may put resources into

the representative's firm-explicit abilities; however has no motivation to put resources into general

abilities that improve a laborer's engaging quality to different employers. Despite the fact that

government may have Instruction Service responsible for their educational system, however this

scarcely organizes with the part of government managing economic development.

The economy sector could grow simply by coaxing workers out of the conventional sector or

from the positions of the jobless, and the traditional sector could make up for any misfortune of

17

workers by drawing workers from a pool of subsistence labor (including women and children)

(Ootsuka 2011, p. 238).

Hence, there is a need to equip the human capital, to meet up with the standard needed by

investing in their education or training which will automatically give rise to markets for education.

Consequently, the outcome is that resources for economic development go excessively to investments

in non-human resources without unequivocal thought of the overall benefits of human resources

investments.

Joining the human and non-human resources into a single factor of production will likewise

jumbles a significant element of the development process itself. Although both kinds of capital are

accumulated through investment, investment in human capital occurs in a market that is very different

from the markets for non-human investment (Lewis, 1955). Hence, physical capital can be aggregated

in an unoriginal market where it is not significant for the investor and the proprietor to meet,

henceforth, the subsequent capital can be claimed by either the producers or leased by them in an

impersonal factor market. Actually, human resources amassing is represented by as far as possible

and social imperatives that have portray the workers as individuals. To this effect, Lewis in this

model submits that while human capital factors are relevant for the analysis of any labour

productivity, it is important to consider the net earnings of the workers which also include their wages

because it is relevant for assessing their well-being. According to Lewis (1997), Wages are the sum

of two components, that is, a return on investment in human capital as well as an economic rent earned

by the workers because human capital cannot enter the production function without being embodied

in an actual person Thereupon, laborers dispense themselves between these two sectors in order to

adjust net profit. Thereupon, when the total work market is in harmony this lease is something similar

for all laborers, paying little heed to their work environment or their kind of expertise, and mirrors

the shortage worth of laborers fundamentally

From the forgoing, it is evident that Lewis was basically a macro-economist that was deeply

immersed in the economic history and the history of thought, which both neglected subjects today. It

is obvious in his works that he generally picked an overall equilibrium approach, not just regarding

working inside a domestic two-sector world yet additionally concerning the relationship of the typical

developing country to the world economy. To this effect, his idea of dualism, that zeroed in on the

component of labour market, rural and urban, has since keeps on bringing to the table a hypothetically

valid, observationally pertinent and essentially useful framework for managing some principal true

issues of development.

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1.2. Schultz Traditional Agriculture Theory

As discussed in the early part of this research work, Agriculture plays a major role in the food

security and economic development of any given country. Notwithstanding, the greater part of the

total populace in the rural areas depends directly or indirectly on agriculture as a source of livelihoods.

As the world population increases and migration to towns and cities intensifies, the number of people

not producing food also need to increase grow.

Agricultural development as indicated by Timmer (2019) is a multi-sectional action that help

and promote positive changes in the country and urban territories. Hence the main objective of

agricultural development in any given country includes the improvement of material and social

welfare of the people. Consequently, agrarian advancement is a part of rural development; however

the rural areas cannot be developed without its agriculture being developed because of the fact that

about 90% of the rural inhabitants are occupied with rural agricultural practices as their significant

source of income. Consequently, agricultural development theory is vested with the improvement of

material and social welfare of individuals which is frequently seen as incorporated way to deal with

improving the environment and prosperity of individuals of the community. Schultz in the traditional

agriculture theory focuses on a kind of farming based wholly on the kinds of factors of production

that have been used by farmers for generations (Schultz, 1979) It has be proven in this current era

that this kind of agriculture often, display depressing results in that the incomes. Thereupon, the issue

that Schultz sets out to settle is the way traditional agriculture can be changed into a profoundly useful

sort of cultivating which Schultz viewed as an investment problem. To address this issue of low

production, Schultz unlike Lewi attests that the arrangement does not lie in the infusion of capital

into the rural area, however to decide the kind of farming investments. The conventional agricultural

sector cannot grow with the guide of the traditional production factors only, expect at a significant

cost. New, totally different production factors are necessary (Schultz, 1961).

The one who farm as his forefathers cannot produce a lot of food regardless of how rich the

land or how hard he works. The farmers who approaches and realizes how to utilize what science

thinks about soils, plants, animals, and machines can deliver an abundance of food anyway the land

be poor. Nor need the work so hard and long. He can deliver such a ton of that his siblings and a part

of his neighbors will move to town to bring in money (1961, p. 3)

He poses three questions which he thereafter sets out to discuss:

1. Can low income agricultural communities increase their output through a more

efficient allocation of production factors?

2. Which factors of production are mainly responsible for the differences in growth rates

of agricultural sectors in different countries?

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3. Under what circumstances does it pay to invest in agriculture?

Schultz avers that the resource allocation in the traditional agriculture is indeed large and

efficient but despite how efficient it is, there are not very much to be gained by reallocating factors

to this kind of agriculture. Hence with the second question, he discerns a hierarchy of importance.

Contrasts in nature of land are the most un-significant ones. Differences in actual capital stocks,

quantitatively and abstractly, are truly huge. Notwithstanding, the genuine considerable contrasts the

critical ones for the development rate in agriculture have to do with contrasts in the abilities of those

playing out the work and dynamic on the farms. The information that makes the change conceivable

is a type of capital, which requires investment not just in material contributions to which this

information is embedded but significantly likewise in individuals (Schultz, 1964).

As at the time Schultz was developing this theory, the world was a much different place, infact,

much of the substantial transformation of agriculture worldwide that has taken place since then can

be attributed to the kinds of investments in the knowledge and people.

In 1961, of the world’s 3.0 billion people, an expected 770.8 million (25.1 percent) were

directly occupied with cultivating, and agribusiness addressed 13.4 percent of generally pay

(estimated regarding Gross domestic product). In the half century since, the world's total populace

has expanded by a factor of 2.4, to a sum of 7.4 billion, and a lot of the worldwide economy has

contracted. In 2014, of the world's 7.4 billion people, an expected 1.3 billion (18 percent) were

directly occupied with cultivating, however farming addressed simply 3.9 percent of by and large pay

(World Bank, 2017, p. 7).

Against this setting, it is not productive to put resources into the sort of farming, capital that

is now in presence on traditional farms. Be that as it may, all things considered, present day factors

must be embraced, however this can possibly happen when farmers have a motivator to do as such.

It is consequently farmers and their capacities that structure the focal component in this theory.

Additionally, in middle and low-income nations, where dominant part of the world's farmers

are found, agriculture still establishes a more noteworthy portion of national income and employment.

Today, a great number of people still depend on agriculture as their source of livelihoods, and nearly

half of the world’s population still lives in rural areas, mostly in agriculturally based households

(Alston & Pardey, 2014). Likewise, many are subsistence farmers, working small farms utilizing

next to no in the method of attractive sources of information other than the land they farm and their

own family work. A dominant part of the world's poor population can be found among these rural

occupants. Thence, as Schultz (1979) famously observed in his Nobel Prize Lecture, “… if we knew

the economics of agriculture, we would know much of the economics of being poor” (p. 56). All these

20

point to the fact that for a country to record increase in agriculture, there is a need to embrace the

modern form of agriculture.

Therefore, while the Dual sector theory highlights the importance of labour in the agricultural

sector of a developing economy like the case of Nigeria, Schultz Traditional Agriculture theory helps

to polemize the proposition that Nigeria need to grow out of the traditional method of Agriculture

and embrace the modern techniques which will aid commercialization and help boost the country’s

economy.

1.3. Agriculture and Nigerian Economy

Nigeria, with a vast geographical land mass of about 923,768 square kilometers with a

population of around 200 million inhabitants is the largest country in African continent (NPC:2011

Est.). Nigeria shares borders with four different African countries, the tropics of Guinea Gulf on the

western Coast of Africa; Republic of Benin, Chad, and Cameroon in the east. With this amount of

landmass, Nigeria is honored with a variety of vegetation, dynamic geography, and practical agro-

climatological conditions. Nigeria is additionally one of only a handful not many in the continent

blessed with great arable farmland for agriculture. As discussed earlier, prior to the discovery of crude

oil, Nigerian business industries, represents 32% of the Gross domestic product, fabricating 11% and

agriculture 30%. This shows that the agricultural sector played a significant role in the economic

growth and extension development the country experienced in the past. Thus, (FAO, 2012) projects

that the capacity of agriculture at generating overall GDP growth and its near advantage in decreasing

poverty will vary from one country to another.

Just like in every other country, Agriculture in Nigeria includes the cultivation of land for crop

production, the rearing of animals for the use of man as well as for the feeding of animals. In addition

to this, Agriculture has other sub-sectors such as forestry, fishery, processing and marketing of the

agricultural products. The agricultural sector indeed has the potentials to provide job opportunities

and raw materials for many agro-allied industries (Nwankwu, 2014).

As it has effectively been demonstrated that farming is an all-inclusive age-long practice in

the third world and agricultural countries. It turns out to be exceptionally hard to discard the

significance of agricultural improvement to financial development and advancement in numerous

underdeveloped nations as it is enthusiastic about their progress to economic flourishing.

Accordingly, agriculture is accepted to offer more than one quarter to GDP in the most developing

countries of the world. The statistics are a lot higher in the least developed nations (Joined Country,

2017). As indicated by the statistics done by World Bank (2018), agriculture fills in as a safe source

sustenance life, for over 2.5 billion individuals on the world. To this effect, the agricultural sector

engages a large number of the world population directly or indirectly in the value chain but despite

21

this power to develop the economic development of a country like Nigeria, Beinteman and Stadt

(2016) asserts that majority if the African nations which Nigeria is a part of, remain dominated by

small-scale farmers who only employs the use of crude tools and the use of largely fragmented land

to cultivate the crop and rear animals for man’s advantage. Majority of this said peasant farmers lives

in the rural communities of Africa, while accounting for the overwhelming 80 percent of the labor

force. While majority of the poor and food insecure in Africa lives in the rural areas, majority of them

depends greatly on agriculture for their source of livelihoods. Thusly, to help the wide based

neediness decrease and to accomplish the food security in Africa, Grevelink et al (2012) assert that

limited scope agribusiness should be a focal venture center.

Agriculture constituted about 60-70 percent of Nigeria’s export in the early 1950s and 1960s.

In fact, Nigeria was regarded as a net exporter of most agricultural products like cocoa, rubber, oil

palm, palm kernel, groundnut among many other cash crops with economic value (Daramola et al,

2017). The profit generated from these exports of agricultural products serves as the main source of

revenue generation for the government at this period. Be that as it may, Nigeria lost her confidence

in agriculture because of the disclosure of crude oil in the last part of the 1960s which ultimately lead

to the high flood of unfamiliar trade income for the country. The ramifications of the oil blast mark

the decrease in the other non-oil sectors particularly the agricultural sector that got less consideration.

Full emphasis was placed on the oil exploration, extraction and the profits it brought (Ifeanyi et al.,

2018).A report from FAO: 2006 indicates that the trend of agriculture over the past decades in the

country has not been favorable.

However, while Nigeria gained tremendously from the crude oil sector, the oil and gas sector

like the forgotten Agricultural sector has been experiencing a decline for some years now due to the

several activities like vandalisation of pipelines and insulations in the Niger Delta region of the

country to the extent that despite that the fact that the production volume in the barrel between 2008

to 2009 shows a 0.45 percent increase, from 768,745,932billion barrel to 780,237,940 billion barrel,

these activities which have account for the drastic decline in the accrual to the government.

The trend of agricultural output, RGDP and oil prices over the period of 1980-2003 is

represented in the chart below.

22

Figure 1: The trend of agricultural output between 1980-2003 (Source: Author, 2021)

The above chart reveals that agricultural output has an upward trend. The chart also reveals

how RGDP was higher between 1980 and 1990 just exactly when the government hasn’t totally

withdrawn its funding of the Agricultural sector. However, the chart also reveals a decline in 17

agricultural outputs in the year 2009. This decline is due to the government’s removal of the allocation

to the sector.

Lending credence on the above conversation, past studies have showed that market-based

between inter-sectoral linkages can fill in as the source of agribusiness' commitment to economic

growth. Johnston and Mellor (1961) observe that agriculture adds to economic development and

improvement through five diverse inter-sectoral linkages. These sectors are linked through:

1. supply of surplus labor to firms in the industrial sector

2. supply of food for domestic consumption

3. provision of market for industrial output

4. supply of domestic savings for industrial investment

Notwithstanding the abovementioned, Block and Timmer (2014) added a short rundown of

non-market based between inter-sectoral linkages through which it is accepted that agriculture can

contributes indirectly to the economic development of Nigeria. Albeit, these linkages emerge from

governmental learning by doing, expanded economic stability, food security, the general proficiency

of rural family and decision-making. The importance of indirect non-market linkages that can

23

improve the quality of the major production factors like labor and capital (Timmer: 2015). To this

effect, agriculture can indirectly contribute to the economic growth of Nigeria.

Nevertheless, in spite of eminent and distinctive instances of how agriculture can help change

and lift the economy of a country, agribusiness is not generally a panacea for financial turn of events

and poverty reduction. Therefore, a country that relies solely on agricultural export can be adversely

affected by global economic shocks (Cuong, 2019). In any case, higher agricultural efficiency can be

indispensable for economic development, particularly in Nigeria and Africa in general, in light of

strong improvement linkages and relative benefits in trade. Against this backdrop, higher agricultural

productivity has the potentials to deliver a triple dividend; sustained food security, higher human

development and lower pressure on land and water (UNDP, 2012).

1.4. Concept of Agribusiness

Agribusiness as a concept is an amalgam of two different words ‘Agriculture” and “Business”.

While Agriculture is generally described as the science or practice of farming, which include the

cultivation of the soil, to enable the growth of crops; rearing f animals for the food provision, wool

and other products, Business is described as the efforts of individuals, organized or unorganized, and

the activities of such individuals to produce and sell goods and services for the purpose of making a

profit. Thus, Agribusiness as a concept can therefore be described as the efforts made by farmers who

are deeply involve in either of the different types of Agriculture, to engage in sales in order to

maximize profit.

Since the early sixties, the concept of Agribusiness has become popular in the fields of

Agriculture and Economics. As a concept that originated in 1957, it was coined by two Harvard

Economists, Johan Davis and Ray Goldberg. Abinitio, Davis described the concept as the “Business

responsibility and the market for farm products. However, after series of discussions, the term

Agribusiness earned for itself, a more concrete definition that captures activities of the farmers from

farm till he is able to maximize profit from the products of his effort. Henceforth, Davis and Goldberg

characterized it as "the entirety of all activities engaged with the manufacturing and distribution of

farm supplies; production procedure on the farm; and the capacity, preparing and dispersion of farm

commodities and things produced using them". To further elaborate this definition, Goldberg (2011)

includes “all firms and institutions”. This spurred him to labeled it on Agribusiness commodity

system.

From this definition, it could be deduced that these definitions were based on the farm

production and distribution. This could be as a result of Davis background who was the head of the

National Council of Farmers Cooperatives between 1944 and 1952 before moving to join Goldberg

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(who experienced childhood in the farm) at the Harvard school of Business Administration to

encourage business ideas applied to farm operations (Fusonie, 2015).

However, due to paradigm shift and series of development that has hit the Agriculture and

Economics world, many definitions of the term Agribusiness have emerged as a result of efforts from

scholars all over the world. Schmitz et al; 2010 Pisani 2014 expanded the definition to include inputs

to farms as well as activities to move farm products to markets. This clarifies how agribusiness was

characterized to incorporate "each one of those business and the management activities which are

performed by firms to give contributions to the farm sector, produce farm products, as well as

interaction, transport, account, handle or market farm products" (Downey and Erickson,

2017).Notwithstanding the concrete nature of this definition, Ricketts and Ricketts (2019) consider it

essential to additionally expand up the definition to incorporate the manufacturing and circulation of

various farm supplies to the production agriculturist and the capacity, preparing, advertising,

transporting, and conveying of agricultural materials and consumer products that were delivered by

production agriculturalists. Therefore, it becomes evident that the concept of Agribusiness has moved

Agriculture beyond its original meaning to include business. Ewell Roy (2012) defines it as the

coordinating science of supplying”. Ewell’s definition came in the wake of the debate on whether to

regard Agribusiness as an ‘art” or “science”. But scholars were able to find a balance between this

two and submit that Agribusiness can function as both an “art and a science of managing any

agricultural business enterprise. Its ability to align together, the various skills of the individuals or

organizations involved in running a profitable venture makes it an art while the risk taking, which is

backed up by an objective gathering as well as analysis of data and information makes it a science.

Consequently, Agribusiness comprises of a body of knowledge, which is acquired from different

disciplines. (Hassanzoy, 2017). Against this backdrop, Agribusiness is a dynamic and foundational

attempt that serves buyers worldwide and locally through innovation and management of multiple

value chains that convey esteemed goods and products got from the sustainable orchestration of food,

fiber, and natural resources. (Edwards & Schultz, 2005).

From the foregoing, it becomes apparent that the idea of Agribusiness suggests the interaction

through which corporate firms supply agricultural inputs or buy diverse farm yields, measure them

for forward dissemination in a more incorporated examples. Along these lines, Agribusiness can be

separated into three essential tri-aggregates which incorporate:

1. Farm Supply

2. Farm Production

3. Processing Distribution.

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The synergy of these three tri-aggregates is indeed an interesting option for industrialization;

in such a way that it possess the capability to transform the Agricultural sector of any given country,

while also creating industrial jobs and income to help boost the economy of the country. To expatiate

further, Agribusiness possess the capability to provide much employment and abundant of food for

the labour force, can also expand the market, while likewise expanding the livelihoods of those that

are engaged with the supply segments, preparing just as the conveyance of the agri-mechanical items.

The intrinsic value of agribusiness is that, it comprises a cooperative energy of agro-industrial linkage

and in the nutshell, engaged with the creation and appropriation of food and fiber needs of the

economy (Tersoo, 2013). Along these lines it produces in reverse combination and furthermore

framed what Pawa depicted as linkages, in this way working with laborers, from the farm to different

areas of the tri-aggregates.

From the forgoing, it is no gainsay to assert that the agribusiness possesses the opportunities

which have great impact on the economic status of any given country especially the fact that it

possesses opportunity to alleviate poverty from any nation. Therefore, agribusiness is capable of

forcing agricultural growth by engendering a strong link with small holders that can reduce poverty

at rural level to commercial holders who can reduce poverty in a country.

Although, the farm supply and production components are very important but they depend on

such infrastructural facilities like land, labour capability, water and management (Okyida & Heady,

2012). With this impact, the idea of Agribusiness can thusly be best evaluated through the sort of

collaborations that exist among agricultural and the non-agricultural sectors. Pawa avows that the

value chain got from agribusiness openings is that, as the premium and market for agro-processing

items expands. The store undertakings part of the tri-aggregates outfits the farm sector inputs also,

benefits accordingly:

1. The level of profitable and business advancement of agro-related activities

2. The refinement of agro-mechanical in reverse and forward linkages, the limit or level

of significant value adding market creation and the significance of dispersion and retailing.

Thence, in any agrarian country, higher agribusiness/ratio possess the power for diversification

of the country’s economy. This prodded Da Silva et al (2019) to place that “… moving the main

economic activities from the farm gateway to the agro-industrial area and its administrations may

address sector and lead to more elevated levels of efficiency and pay age just as higher portions of

non-farm work in rural areas” (p. 90). Therefore, the scenario becomes feasible through a dynamic

link between the Agricultural sector, industries as well as all other associated activities.

From the foregoing and the reality in Nigeria today, the agribusiness sector in Nigeria has not

proven valuable supporting the economic growth and development in Nigeria since 1960. As

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discussed earlier, prior to the discovery of oil in Nigeria the country relied heavily on the funds

generated from agribusiness exports which was further used in the development of other sectors

(Onwumere & Onyeike, 2017). Despite the heavy income generated from the exportation of oil in

Nigeria, the country’s economy has experienced a dwindling fortune as a result of the monopoly of

oil and gas as the only dependent economy in Nigeria. This informs Nto and Mbanasor (2011) opinion

that agribusiness sector productivity is important in achieving sustainable economic growth and

significant level of food security in developing economy like Nigeria.

Against this backdrop, the state of agribusiness in Nigeria today has drastically regressed, from

a time when the country was a major exporter of food products. Onwumere and Onwunisibe captures

the reason for this when they assert that “For the past 15 years, Nigeria’s business community has

focused on developing sectors other than agriculture, including oil and gas, telecommunications, and

financial services. The agribusiness sector has not received consistent or adequate government or

private sector attention. n. As a result, the agribusiness sector has not developed as rapidly as other

sectors of Nigeria’s economy” (2013, p. 2). To this effect, Agribusiness in Nigeria today has become

informal which happens mostly at a small scale level with around 90% production happening at farms

with less than 2 hectares of cropping yet, the country imports majority of agricultural products that

the country’s population consumes. (USAID, 2019).

It has been noted that in large countries such as Nigeria, there always exist a close association

between the size of the agribusiness sector and its productivity. In economics like this, the sectoral

composition output to a large extent reflects the structure of domestic demand. This shifts the

structure of demand away from food and agricultural products, as soon as the income grows; this is

initiated by the process of agricultural transformation. To this, (Hear, 1985 and et al, 2013) attest that

one of the important determinants of income growth is agricultural productivity.

In this case, agribusiness is linked up with the other sectors and Umubali (2011) described

this as backward or forward linkages. Farm inputs are seen as capital goods for further production by

other sectors while foods are for human consumption and for industrial production. Thus, capital

mobilization becomes crucial and limiting factor that influence the growth of the agribusiness sector.

However, Ugwu and Kalu (2011) identified the need for maximum government interaction if

agribusiness in Nigeria must be returned to her past glory.

Notwithstanding, subsequent to considering the agribusiness in Nigeria, Pana isolated it into

four segments which are: farming inputs supply companies; producing farm; processing agribusiness

firms and food marketing distribution.

1. Farm input supply business: this incorporates the agricultural chemical inputs

provider of fills, pesticides and the herbicides seeds and feed concentrate providers; composts,

27

agricultural machinery and equipment suppliers, automobile (the tubes; tyres). Manufacturers foam;

credit and vertinary services suppliers. He further extend this supply to encompass the supply of sack

containers, furthermore, cases required in for packaging; water, power, phone, medical insurance and

so on also included

2. The Producing Farm Firms: These are crop producers and animals producers that

are farmers dissipated everywhere on the country. The development of this part depends upon

accessible tremendous land, improved useful powers, and complementarity with industry that ingests

overabundance agricultural work.

3. Food Processing Agribusiness: This fuses food and natural product item,

manufacturers of brew, soda pops, cocoa beverages, and tea; makers of confectionary sugar sweets,

chocolate, cakes, bread rolls; tobacco processors or makers; meat processors; wood processors and

furniture and wholesalers, paper plant administrators and tissue paper makers; calfskin and footwear

makers; food packaging and compartments creators; cotton taking care of, turning, weaving and

material associations; food processors of cornflakes, jam, bread, spread, milk, margarine, and tomato

puree; oils, cleaning agent, and toothpaste producers fishing associations, fish processors, packers

and shippers.

4. The Food Marketing and Distribution Agribusiness: Organizations in the nation

incorporate private food stores; wholesalers and retailers of frozen food including general stores and

so on These agribusiness firms are dissipated wherever on the country yet are moved in three standard

mechanical gatherings in Nigeria; Kano, Kaduna, Jos in the north; Lagos, Otta Ibadan in the south

west and Port Harcourt, Aba, Nnewi, and Onitsha in the southeast. An outline of a couple include:

Taraku Oil Industrial facilities Ltd, Abakiliki Rice Processors, Sorghum Out grower Plan with

GuinnesPlc, FumanAgric Rural Items Organic product Juice Makers and Cocoa Exporter Ed and F

man Nigeria and so forth.

1.5. Importance of Agribusiness Development in Nigeria towards Sustainable

growth

Considering the value chain process through work, income, markets and poverty reduction

from the agribusiness, Nigeria as a nation can achieve supportable development from the raising of

farms and non-farm equilibrium through the following

Employment: The agribusiness area is good for creating business both directly (on farm) and

indirectly (non-farm) of the plentiful rural labour supply. Through work creation, it redesigns and

broadens the market and interest for farm produce, also as the advancement of business agrifood

system in the rural areas is good for energizing economic development. The adequacy and

28

development of post-harvest dealing with, planning and promoting is a huge factor in the two edge

activity of giving food and work to people.

Income Generation/Poverty Reduction: The commercial value of agribusiness is good for

creating higher incomes. These new pay levels are good for empowering little farm holder into huge

holders. The extended market expands the financial ability of the input suppliers and the market for

the processing firms. Anyway supportability of incomes gathering from agribusiness relies to a great

extent upon the powerful connection between the farm and the non-farm sectors. Right when such

earnings increment into investible abundance it invigorate the improvement of the rural non-farm

economies and this transforms into a huge factor in rural poverty alleviation.

Food Security: An effective agribusiness is equipped for guaranteeing accessibility and

qualification of individuals to adequate food consistently to ensure sound life. Agribusiness should

guarantee food accessibility (via supply) and support entitlement of individuals with plenty

alternative commodity bundles for the individuals (Harris and Heyer, 2010).

Complementarity/Structural Transformation: An essential connection between the farm

and non-farm areas makes an incorporated creation structure and a harmony among huge and little

creation units. A one of a kind agribusiness empowers the improvement of the country non-farm area

through different linkages: while agriculture requires inputs given by the non-farm endeavors. The

rural non-farm area makes combination of backward and forward linkages driving a speedy primary

change.

Challenges of Nigerian Agricultural Growth

As stated earlier, agriculture is very important in majority of the developing counties. In fact,

is sometimes used to define rurality within the local economy. To this effect, any strategy by the

federal government to improve the performance of agriculture in any given community especially in

the rural community of Nigeria like in Ekiti state will contain an agricultural development component.

Anriquez and Stamoulis (2017) write that while agricultural development aims at improving the

welfare of populations through sustained improvements in the productivity of the agricultural sector,

rural development aims at the improvement of welfare of rural populaces through the sustained

development of the rural economy, which incorporates agriculture, yet may not be its only component

and not really the most powerful. However, despite this fact that agriculture is mostly practiced in the

rural settlements which also has the potentials of eradicating poverty from the country, rural areas in

Nigeria are faces with series of problems. These problems have been summarized by many

researchers to include inadequate levels of agriculture productivity especially in food crop; high levels

of absolute and rural poverty; and poor level of infrastructure facilities (Shiru, 2018). Thus, Tya:

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(2011) avers that the fundamental problems facing agricultural mechanization in Nigeria today

include the adoption of mechanization strategies that are mostly caused by the government and the

international agencies who have failed pay sufficient attention to the interests of farmers at the local

level as well as the processes of technological change (Kutte and Tya, 2011). This happens despite

the heavy investment Nigeria has made to improve the agricultural sector. Observing the assessment

of the agricultural sector as well as the evidence of the huge sums of money spent, especially when

we at the human development it becomes evident that the Nigerian government and other

international agencies have been prioritizing the wrong aspect of the agricultural sector.

Table 1: Budgetary Allocation to Agriculture in Nigeria from 1990-2002

Sources: CBN Statistical Bulletin and Annual Report

The above table shows the budgetary allocations and actual expenditures for the period of

1990 to 2002, albeit, the government set up strategies and financial responsibility towards improving

the agricultural sector, yet these approaches and responsibility are deficient. Consequently, it is no

repudiate that these approaches have not accomplished food independent, confidence, reduction in

poverty and rural development objectives. The Nigeria Agriculture Public Expenditure Review

(NAGPER), a synergistic report completed by a research group from the International Food Policy

Research Institute (IFPRI) and the World Bank (2018), showed that public spending on agriculture

in Nigeria is under 2% the government expenditure during 2001 to 2005 (Christopher et al., 2010).

Accordingly, the insufficient subsidizing of the agriculture sector in Nigeria has expanded the poverty

rate in Nigeria; consequently one of the difficulties confronting agricultural sector.

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Despite the several agriculture research institutes made available in Nigeria, to address the

challenges faced by agriculture and the agriculture sector there is little or no changes to success been

recorded. The significant capacity is to give fundamental of agriculture research information for

strategy creators and furthermore to subsidizing organizations. Additionally, to give research

institutes move of examination initiated innovation to farmers which basically measure research

advantages to society, while likewise giving feedbacks to researchers on which advancements or

innovation segments are fruitful at farm levels. The following is the list of the Public Agricultural

Research Institutes (NARIs) under the aegis of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN).

Table 2: Agricultural research Institutes in Nigeria

1. National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike

2 National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) Ibadan

3. Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) Ibadan

4. Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin-City

5. Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) Benin-City

6. Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) Lagos

7. Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) Maiduguri

8. National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Vom

9. National Institute for Fresh-Water Fisheries Research (NIFFER) New Bussa

10. Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) Ilorin

11. National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI) Badgi

12. Institute for Agricultural Research & training (IAR&T) Ibadan

13. National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) Shika Zaria

14. National Agricultural Extension & Research Liaison Services

(NAERLS)

Zaria

15. 15 Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR)

Samaru

Zaria

Source: “The Role of Research in Agricultural Development” by Dr (Mrs.) Adenike Olufolabi,

Executive Director, National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan Nigeria.

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The table above shows the existence of so many research institutes in Nigeria that can assist

the Nigerian economy greatly while its contribution can adequately compete with the oil sub-sector

of the economy; however, the reverse is the case. In view of this, it becomes very important to identify

the various challenges affecting agriculture in Nigeria today as well as factors inhibiting the

performance of the agriculture sector toward designing suitable policy strategies that would create

conducive climate for promoting accelerated commercialization and growth of the sector. Therefore,

the following factors are very important:

Lack of Development

The lack of development is a major factor affecting agriculture in Nigeria. Developments like

social, economic, environmental developments and political development. Today, majority of the

able bodied-men and women who could have loved to venture into agriculture are running away from

the rural areas because of the lack of development that characterized these areas. Hence, the lack of

development even at the rural environments has encouraged able-bodied men and women to migrate

from the villages to the cities where they are sure of better social amenities like pipe borne water,

electricity and centers for recreation and so on (Nwankwo, 2014). Therefore, identifying and tackling

the issue of development in all areas in the Nigeria agricultural system will help create a climate to

improve performance, and will help promote and accelerate the growth in this sector (Oni, 2013).

Additionally, the issue of Land Tenure system is another test farming is confronting today. In

Agriculture in Nigeria, larger part of Nigeria that are useful for cultivating and other agricultural of

the rural areas, ownership of land is not obviously characterized, yet the land belongs to families.

Consequently, a large number of fertile land/soil may be left uncultivated and fragmentation of land

may cause low productivity (Yakubu, 2019).

Despite the low numbers of farmers in Nigeria, majority of the food consumed in Nigeria

especially in the rural areas are produced in the country. But the lack of storage facilities is another

challenge facing agriculture in Nigeria. The absence of storage and processing facilities influence

both the national food security and the family food security. When there is a great deal of harvest and

the productions of farm products appear to be sufficient, absence of good storage actually lead to food

shortage as the food will not be accessible or be in a decent condition when it's ideal for consumption.

Therefore, good storage and processing are needed in-order to ensure that food is available in good

condition whenever it’s required (Oni, 2013). Basic and successful technique for storing perishable

foods like tubers, fruits, vegetables are not really advanced and eminent in Nigeria when compared

with that of grains.

Storage is an issue for Nigeria as countless food produce perishes, considering the need of

storage and processing facilities. In spite of the fact that, notwithstanding the inaccessibility of good

32

storerooms, there exist the traditional techniques for storage however have turns out to be effectively

open to rat and having wooden floor which is an obvious objective for termite and furthermore a

portion of the storage are non-moisture proof surface which could get harm by water. With this

impact, because of the deficiency in storage and processing system, farmers record substantial

misfortune when it's the ideal opportunity for profuse reaping.

Ignorance and Illiteracy

Another challenge facing the agriculture in Nigeria today is ignorance on the part of the

citizens; especially the youths that have undermine the potentials of agriculture not only to provide

food but also to alleviate poverty from the country. Some Nigerian youths see farming as a very odd

Job, meant only for the illiterate and the people living in the rural settlement (Udemezue Anedo,

2015). In fact, some wealth Nigerians also corroborates this idea. In the eyes of some of Nigeria’s

wealthy class, farming is, ignorantly underrated and abhorred as poor peoples’ job. With this form of

mindset, the governments in Nigeria are also pretentiously doing very little or nothing in terms of

solving the nation’s food and agricultural Problems (Nwankwo, 2014). Therefore, for Agriculture to

get to its limelight in Nigeria and for it to be recognized as one of the sectors that can aid poverty

reduction in Nigeria, there is a need for the government and other investors to create awareness and

inform the ignorant ones about the potentials of agriculture. However, with the growing population

of educated Nigerians, one does not expect this level of ignorance but the level of illiteracy in this

area of study has become a challenge to Agribusiness in Nigeria.

A great number of the dedicated fulltime farmers in Nigeria can neither read nor write. This is

due to the fact that the illiterates are believed to be the suitable candidates for this kind of job. The

Local farmers are even as uninformed as they lack modern agricultural education. The height of

illiteracy there, is Nigeria’s total negligence and, or her non-usage of native languages in the nation’s

Pursuits for modern education. Hence, in this world today, people that still Studies in foreign

languages have not really started Learning, and this level of illiteracy and unawareness do often

constitute some serious Setbacks, even in Nigeria’s food production efforts (Akpan, 2010, p. 83)

The inability of these farmers to be able to read and write also constitute to the low productivity

recorded in the agriculture sector. Majority of Nigerian Farmer are still using the same outdated

manual farm tools - like cutlass and hoe - as their Forefathers used since many Centuries ago instead

of using some affordable modern agricultural techniques or simple machines that could bring change

in productivity (Yakubu, 2019). Consequently, the utilization of these sorts of techniques and

strategies likewise comprises an exceptionally extraordinary set-back in the nation's food and

agricultural out-puts. However, despite how ready some of the available and dedicated farmers are

financial status also prove a challenge to them from getting the modern equipment good for these

33

jobs. Most of these farmers are poor and cannot bear to purchase tractors, its accessories which will

make agribusiness simple and productive.

Labor and Marketing

The unavailability of required labor is a major factor affecting the agriculture sector in Nigeria

today. Because of the nature of the country, the traditional system of cultivating utilized in Nigeria

influences the utilization of farmland as a result of the accessibility of work. The agribusiness system

is essentially managed without the utilization of machines, consequently human work gets significant

in the production system, representing about 90% of the farm tasks. While under a semi-automated

framework human work is still up to 70% of the farm activities (NISER, 2011). Accordingly, work

could be and is influenced by the ceaseless relocation of capable the able young men and women to

the urban areas which thusly causes lack in the workforce and in time when workers are needed for

land preparation and harvesting. The main cause of this migration is the perception by young men

that farm labour cannot support them and their families (Chemonics, 2013). Similarly, marketing

incorporates the transportation of agricultural products from the farmers to consumers. A portion of

the issues of marketing influencing the farming in Nigeria today incorporate poor transportation, poor

packaging and low quality. Likewise, good roads are required to successfully transport goods from

one place to another. Yet, sadly, the general marketing system of the nation is primitive. However,

due to corruption in the country, construction of good roads and railways for transportation requires

numerous years and once in a while as long as 10 years to get an organization built as a result of

corruption. In fact, the little road and rail constructed are fond of crumbling as a result of poor

maintenance (Oni, 2013).

In summary, this chapter has successfully reviewed the Lewis’ dual theory and Schultz

Traditional Agriculture theory through which the study has been argued that the traditional method

of farming is obsolete and is inefficient for the substance growth needed in the agricultural sector in

Nigeria today. Therefore, it becomes paramount to apply the Lewi’s Dual theory into transforming

the agribusiness in Nigeria if it must arrive at its peak. Also, this chapter has been able to examine

the state of agribusiness in Nigeria. It is evident that Agribusiness has been declining ever since the

discovery of petroleum on the Nigerian soil. Hence the government that was supposed to provide

support to farmers has shifted her attention to the oil sector while the agricultural sector has been

abandoned and left alone. In addition to this, the agribusiness in Nigeria if faced by several challenges

which includes the ignorance and illiteracy on the part of the citizens who believe that farming is an

odd job meant for the aged-individuals in the society. Hence, promising youths are not to be involved

in agribusiness; the problem of labor and marketing stem from the unavailability of suitable

34

individuals to work as labor while the lack of development and storage facilities have provided the

farmers with little choice and space for preserving their farm produce.

To this effect, the next chapter will focus on the analysis of the case study of the agribusiness

in Ekiti state, which is believed to be a prototype of other states in Nigeria, the methodology employed

in this study will be discussed as well as the analysis of the data gathered from the survey and

interviewed conducted to investigate the possibility of a sustainable agribusiness in Nigeria.

35

2. ANALYSIS OF THE CASE STUDY OF AGRIBUSINESS IN

EKITI STATE

This part of this research study centers on the methodology and the methodological approaches

employed for the success of data analysis while also placing emphasis on the possibility of promoting

Ekiti state as an agribusiness center in Nigeria. Likewise, the potentials of promoting, and equipping

the available individuals that ready to work as labor will be analyzed in this part.

2.1 METHODOLOGY OF CASE STUDY OF AGRIBUSINESS IN EKITI

STATE

Lending credence on Kothari (2014), Methodology is concerned with the approach employed

in a research study for the purpose of generating solutions to the research problem. Consequently, the

fundamental purpose of this research is to "proffer strategies for the possibilities of sustainable growth

of agribusiness in Nigeria, using Ekiti state as a case study towards transforming the country into a

hub of agribusiness in the country. To this effect, data are sourced majorly from the primary

(empirical survey) and secondary (the review of journals, published works, and use of internet

materials, magazines, newspapers and so on).

Logical sequence for empirical research possibilities sustainable a growth of agribusiness in

Ekiti state are:

36

Logical sequence for empirical research for improving the performance of local farmers in

Ekiti state

Research method

For this empirical study, mixed method of research which includes the qualitative and

quantitative research methods was adopted. The qualitative methods, which employs the use of

interview conducted to capture and understand the feelings as well as the experiences of the farmers

in Ekiti state, especially on the potentiality of the state in becoming a hub for agribusiness in Nigeria.

Therefore, to carry out a reliable analysis of this current situation, it becomes very important to carry

out a PEST and SWOT analysis and evaluation of the current state of Farmers in Ekiti state towards

the possibilities for the sustainable growth of Agribusiness in Ekiti. This qualitative research involves

a case study approach, to explore in-depth information of activities, process, and operations of

individuals or group (Creswell, 2019). The quantitative method employs the use of questionnaire

which was used to survey and identify the several factors affecting the operations of farmers from

performing at their peak in the state. Therefore, this help in analyzing this current situation and

To conduct a quantitative and qualitative survey to identify

potentiality of promoting Ekiti sate as a hub for agribusiness in

Nigeria

To carry out an analysis of the current situation of farmers in Ekiti state and

measures for improving their activities in the state.

PEST and SWOT evaluation for the promotion of agribusiness in Ekiti through

the available local farmers in the state.

To develop startegies for equipping the available youths that are ready to work

as labour in the state.

37

measures for promoting and creating a sustainable growth of Agribusiness in Ekiti state. All these

help in the analysis of the information gotten from the respondents in contest, issues and the lessons

learned from the survey in line with research topic. Therefore, the respondents chosen for the

quantitative survey were local farmers from Ekiti state. Using the Likert scale measurement, the

respondents have the options of selecting from the five points that suits their opinion. The five points

are: Very Weak –VW, Weak-W, Neutral-N, Strong-S and Very Strong –VS.

Sampling Technique: in order to ensure that the chosen respondents have a sound knowledge

of this discourse and that is also relevant to this research, it becomes important for a purposive

sampling technique to be employed; it is believed that this research technique according to Patton

(2012) with help in deriving a rich information purposefully and strategically depending on the

resources and purpose of study. Hence, a list of the farmers’ association in Ekiti state was drawn and

respondents were selected through the cocoa farmer’s association supported by Ekiti state

government.

For the analysis of the data, the study employs the use of Microsoft Excel to analyze the date

gathered in order to get an accurate and reliable result for this study.

Looking at the major towns and local government in the state, Ikere, Ikole and Oye local

governments have 75 percent of the total farmers from these associations; thus, the sample size was

determined by using the level 95 percent, famers from these three local governments thus, they

become the suitable for this study.

The sample size was determined by using confidence level of 95percent, Nigerian cocoa

farmer’s population size is currently estimated at about 300,000, the margin error of 5 percent and

the ideal sample size is 384 for Nigeria. Since it is generally accepted that Ondo state is the leading

producer out of the seven cocoa producing states in Nigeria, it is allocated 25 percent of cocoa

farmer’s population (i.e. 25 percent of 384) for this study. putting into consideration that some of the

participants due to one reason or the other may decide to opt out of the process, a total 60 respondents

were selected to participate in this survey; thence, every respondents that contributed towards the

success of this research are certified members of the All Farmers Association that are contacted

through the help of Association and are expected to participate in the research.

The three local governments (Ikere, Ikole and Oye Local government) that happened to be the

study area are selected for this empirical survey. These Local Government areas are selected based

on the high level of involvement in agriculture and agricultural exposure. They are regarded as the

major center for agricultural businesses in Ekiti state. Hence, these local governments are recognized

for their potentials in turning the state into a hub for agribusiness; in addition to this, the criteria for

selection of participants includes but not limited to:

38

High level of concentration on crop production

Ability of respondents to participate in the survey based on their ability to read

contents written in English language and write in English Language

Willingness to partake in survey

Knowledge and Experiences in Agricultural operations in the state

Table 3: Selected Local Government Areas in Ekiti State

No Local communities selected

for empirical survey

(Members of All Farmers

Association).

Number of

participants selected

for quantitative

empirical study

Number of

participants selected

for qualitative

empirical study

1. Ikere 40 3

2. Ikole 40 3

3. Oye 40 3

Total 60 9

Data collection method:

The interview conducted with members of the All Farmers’ Association makes up the

qualitative survey part of this research work. For a successful interview, an interview guard was

prepared which include the following questions:

How will you describe the current state of Agriculture in Ekiti state?

What are the challenges encountered in farm?

What are the aspects of farm production that needs to be addressed?

What are the possible strategies for improving agricultural performance in Ekiti state?

The qualitative research instrument employed in this study is a structured interview which is

determined by the level of farmers interviewed. This semi structured interview involves a formal set

of questions directed to the respondents with responses recorded to be analyzed. Also, as stated

earlier, the quantitative analysis is done using the research instrument (Questionnaire) which was

designed using Likert scale method to answer specific questions in line with the aim of the empirical

study. The use of questionnaires provides efficient process of retrieving information in an identified

sample (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2019). To arrive at a good end, questionnaire was

administered by the researcher to participants through the help of a research assistant, a PhD candidate

39

at the Federal University Oye- Ekiti (FUOYE). Respondents were therefore given time frame to

answer the questions and responses submitted within the agreed period of time to enhance quick and

easy analysis.

Method of data analysis:

Based on the above discussions, the quantitative research data analysis consists of descriptive

statistic techniques. Also the use of Microsoft excel spreadsheet was employed for analysis and the

interpretation of data. While analysis of the information derive from the interview were also

presented. As stated earlier, the instrument of the qualitative research is a structured interview using

interview guide questions and recordings of information received.

Limitation of research:

Due to several contingencies, there are probabilities that a research study will encounter some

flaws and shortcomings, hence one of the shortcomings encountered during the course of this research

are mostly locating, introduction and explaining the purpose of the research to participants for them

to be able understand and be willing to contribute as much as they based on their experience and

knowledge of the subject of study. not only this, the study also encounter shortcoming in getting the

participants that are literates and can answer the questionnaire in English language and to some, there

was the help to interpret the questions to them in their local dialect for them to understand in order to

meet up with period scheduled for the empirical study. Also, the illiterate nature of some of the

respondents deprived the researcher from conducting an internet survey, hence, the need for a research

assistant on ground. However, with commitment and tenacity, these challenges where managed as

much as possible hence cooperation from participants was recorded. Also there was the unavailability

of statistical data was a challenge to this research as conflicting reports of cocoa yield annually was

made available.

2.2. Analysis of Research performance of cocoa supply chain using in Ekiti state

As stated earlier, earlier the purpose of this research is to investigate the possibilities for

turning Ekiti state into a hub of Agribusiness in Nigeria. Hence, the study seeks to find answers to

the following question:

What is the current situation of farmers in Ekiti state?

What strategy can be employed towards improvement of agriculture in Ekiti state?

What strategy can be employed towards making Ekiti a hub for Agribusiness?

To achieve the said purpose as explained above, it is important to hear the opinions of farmers

and expert in the agriculture field in Ekiti state, hence their commitment and contributions in the

survey was ensured by verbal agreement. Therefore, the quantitative research was carried out using

40

survey instrument (questionnaire) which was distributed by physically by the research assistants

across the three local governments under study. The questionnaire contains the following:

Background information on respondents participating in the study

Appraisal of Agribusiness in the case study

Assessment of farming equipment used in the study area

Assessment of government strategies to improve agriculture in the study area

The questionnaire which was designed to seek information from the farmers in the study area

based on the above assessments becomes relevant for determining the current state of the farming in

the Ekiti. It includes information about the:

1. Gender of respondent

2. Age of respondents

3. Years of experience and operation as a farmer

4. The category of farm land

5. Type of crop farmed

6. Output of farm products harvested per season (6 months)

7. Description of farming technique and labor process

8. Farmers’ association and others.

With the discussion so far, the analysis of the research result is presented with descriptive

statistical means, discussion and explanatory forms of the result is also done for adequate

understanding of the research outcome.

2.3. Quantitative analysis of respondents from Farmers in Ekiti state

Considering the fact farming is not peculiar to a particular gender in the society, it becomes

important for the survey to inquire about the percentage of each gender that is involved in agricultural

activities in Nigeria. To this effect, figure 2 below shows the gender of the respondents selected for

this survey.

Figure 2: Analysis of gender of respondents (Source: author, 2021)

Ikere

Ikole

Oye

0

20

40

60

MaleFemale

46

4

34

4

30

2 Ikere

Ikole

Oye

41

Result from figure shows that majority of the total respondents are male while the female

population constitutes below average of the total respondents. This indicates that majority of the

farmers in Ekiti state are run by men. However, as stated in the early part of this study, Agricultural

activities are regarded as jobs meant for aged-individuals in the society. This spurred the survey to

inquire about the age of respondents that participated in this survey. Hence, figure 3 below focuses

on the age of respondents selected for the survey.

Figure 3: Analysis of age of respondents (Source: author, 2021)

From figure above, the outcome of the age distribution shows that majority of the respondents

are above 50 years of age. This is an indication that majority of the land owners who have farms are

olds, therefore, this shows the lack of involvement of the new generation in owing farmlands. This

however, does not mean the young generations are not interested in farming but the few ones that are

interested have no access to land and other farming equipment. Hence, it becomes a threat to

Agribusiness in Ekiti state.

2

9

11

20

5

7

13

20

34

9

17

0

5

10

15

20

25

Below 30 yrs 30-40 years 41-50 yrs 51 yrs and above

Ikere

Ikole

Oye

42

Figure 4: Analysis of years of experience of respondents (Source: author, 2021)

Figure above which shows the result of the years of experience of the respondents selected for

this research shows that farmers with about 30years experience makes up more than half of the entire

population of the respondents. This is an indication that majority of these respondents learnt the little

knowledge of farming that they have today from their parents and people around them at a tender

age. This also implies that the methods they employed in their farming are old. Hence, given the fact

that majority of the farms in the area of study are at least 30years old, their experience can be exploited

through the help and services of the extension workers, compliment it with modern and contemporary

methods in order to achieve a better result.

Figure 5: Analysis of the category of farm scale (Source: Author, 2021)

10.8%

30.8%

50.4%

15 years

20 years

30 years and above

16

30

6

13

23

4

15

6

4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Small scale Medium scale Large scale

Ikere

Ikole

Oye

43

As stated earlier in the body of literature, the size of land available for are regarded as medium

farmers to farm determines the category of farming they engage in. therefore, 51.7 percent of the total

respondents indicate that they could categorize themselves as medium scale farmers. Based on this

research, any farmer whose farmland is above 5 acres and below 10 acres are regarded as medium

scale farmers.36.7 percent of the farmers engage in small scale farming. These are farmers with

farmlands that are below 5 acres while the remaining 11.6 percent of the have above 10 acres of

farmland which places them at the category of large scale farming. However, as stated in the body of

literature, there are adequate land ready to be farmed in Ekiti state but insecurity among many other

factors have become a major challenge for the farmers from going to these farms. Hence, the little

secured lands are been used for farming annually.

Figure 6: Analysis of the type of crops farmed (Source: Author, 2021)

Figure above shows the response from the respondents on the types of crops farmed in the

three local governments of Ekiti state under study. Majority of the respondents indicated that Tuber

which is mostly yam and cassava as well as Cereal which is mostly corn, beans, rice and so on are

the type of crops they farmed most. This however, does not mean they do not farm other type of

crops, but as shown in the figure above, vegetable and fruits takes the lowest percentage.

35%

12%18%

35% Cereal

Fruits

Vegetable

Tuber

44

Figure 7: Analysis on the availability of labour (Source: Author, 2021)

Figure above shows that majority of the respondents agree that there are available labor that

are ready to work as labourers in Ekiti state. This is an indication that if agriculture is to improve in

Ekiti state, labor might not be a problem for the promotion of agribusiness in the state.

Figure 8: Analysis of age range of individuals ready to work as labor (Source: Author, 2021)

Figure above shows that majority of the labours that are ready to work in the three local

government of Ekiti state selected for this study are within the age range of 30years and below. This

is an indication that the younger generation are ready to work to improve the agribusiness in Ekiti

state. However, the availability of these individuals to work does not mean they have passion for

agriculture, but majority of them are interested to work as labourers in order to put food on their tables

and attend to their needs. Nevertheless, their willingness to work is an indication that energetic labor

will never be an issue if agriculture in Ekiti is improved.

Nevertheless, it has be proven from the early parts of the work that farmers association has

great ways of enlightening the farmers and it also serve as an avenue where farmers meet and share

84%

36%

Yes

No

63%40%

17%

Below 30 years

30-40 years

41 years and above

45

experiences together. To this effect, figure 9 below shows the percentage of farmers that belong to

farmers’ association.

Figure 9: Analysis of farmers that belong to farmers’ association (Source: Author, 2021)

Figure above shows the response from all the respondents when asked if they belong to

farmer’s association. They all answered in affirmative. This is due to the promises made by past

governments to assist farmers in the state. It is therefore learnt through the process of this research

that the help can only come through the farmers’ association.

Table 4; Question 1: Analysis of the rate of performance of farming in terms of business success.

NR. PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

1.1

Is business

environment

convenient or

friendly

34.2 45.3 13.1 8.4 2.0 The response of majority of the

respondents (79%) shows that

business environment in their

locality is not friendly or

convenient for them. This is due to

many reasons which include thee

price the sell their farm products in

the market which is relatively low

to the amount of capital, time and

efforts put to achieve and get good

results from their farms.

1.2

Is the

business

35.0 43.4 14.2 6.1 1.3 Based on the fact that majority of

the respondents did not see the

business environment as friendly,

120

00

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Yes No

frequency

46

environment

harsh or rigid

majority of the total respondents

assert that the business

environment is harsh to them.

1.3

is

government

or private

support

encouraging

32.3 39.2 20.2 8.3 1.1 The respondents considered the

support from the government and

private organization towards

making the business environment

more friendly as poor. This came as

a result of the failed promises by

the government to improve the

agribusiness in the state. Therefore,

majority of the respondents, (72%)

of the respondents said they don’t

get enough encouragement from

either.

Table 5; Question 2: Analysis of the respondents educational qualification

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

2.1

Academic

knowledge

17.8 22.0 - 35.2 25.0 The response of the total

respondents concerning their

educational background, is an

indication that all the respondents

have been within the walls of

formal education in their lives,

hence they possess at least the

Primary School Leaving

Certificate (PSLC).

2.2

Primary

school

education

only

- - - - 100.0 The response of the respondents

here if an attestation that they all

possess the PSLC. However, while

formal education is not a perquisite

47

for being a farmer in Ekiti state, it

has added an advantage for the

farmers in their operations and

have also helped them in the

farmers’ association even though

information are not communicated

in English language but in their

native language.

2.3

Secondary

school level

17.8 - - - 82.2 Despite the academic knowledge of

the respondents, their response

here shows that majority of the

respondents have passed through

the secondary education while only

17.8 percent of the total

respondents have not.

2.4 Tertiary

Institution

35.5 46.7 - - 17.8 Also, the response from the total

respondents here also indicates that

only few of the respondents have

tertiary education experience.

Table 6; Question 3: Analysis on the description of market for farm produce

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

3.1

Available to

local

market

(villages and

clans)

17.0 12.3 12.1 40.2 18.4 More than half of the respondents

said that their goods are available

to their local markets. This can

easily be linked to the fact that

many of them do not have the

means to get them to a bigger

market.

48

3.2

To region

market

( cities,

townships )

31.5 37.4 18.5 12.2 1.2 The deficit in the supply chain is

also obvious as 69% of the

respondents said their produce do

not get to regional markets. Only

few farmers with means and

connection get their produce to

these types of market.

3.3

Supermarkets 40.2 43.6 13.0 3.2 - More than 80% of the respondents

said their produce almost never

reach the desired big markets as

they have no means of getting them

there without intervention from the

government and private

organizations.

Table 7; Question 4: Analysis of the effectiveness of the collaboration between government and

the farmers

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

4.1

Is there

government

intervention

regarding

farming cocoa

in

Nigeria?

37.0 40.0 20.0 3.0 - As regards government

intervention regarding cocoa

farming in Nigeria, almost 80% of

the respondents said there had been

no real intervention from the

government, but expect things to

change in the near future

4.2

Are there

provision of

fertilizers,

improved

35.2 41.4 16.1 5.0 2.3 Many of the respondents (almost

77%) also said they have no access

to incentives, fertilizers and

seedlings with just a few (7.3%)

saying they have access to them.

Again, without these things, the

49

seedling and

cash incentive

to boost

production?

level of production is bound to be

way too low.

4.3

Is there a

provision for

export of farm

Produce?

32.4 39.6 21.6 6.4 - In response to the question of if

there is a provision for export of

farm produce by the government,

many of the respondents clearly

said they do it on their own or by

partnering with others to export in

bulk.

Table 8: Question 5: Analysis of availability of infrastructure

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

5.1

Is there good

road from

farm

community to

other towns

48.5 43.7 7.8 - - A large chunk of the respondents

said there are no good roads from

their farms to towns and this

greatly affects the distribution of

the products. This is due to the fact

that most of the farm settlements

are in the rural settlements and the

urban settlements are the

government’s target for

development

5.2

Is there

electricity in

the farm

community

54.6 45.4 - - - Keeping in tune with the obvious

infrastructural deficit in most parts

of the country-electricity supply

being a major part, all the

respondents said they have no

access to electricity supply in their

farms.

50

5.3

Is there good

pipe borne/

irrigation

42.0 45.3 10.7 2.0 - More than 90% of the farmers said

they have no access to pipe borne

water/irrigation supply system and

so have to make use of manual

means to supply water to their

crops. These manual systems are

not always enough and they lead to

reduction in crop yield.

5.4 Is

communicatio

n system good

( internet

network and

telecommunic

ation signal )

35.3 44.5 15.7 4.5 - Most respondents said they do not

have access to good

communication system which in a

way inhibits their reach in terms of

marketing and supplying their

products.

Table 9, Question 6: Analysis of availability of modern equipment for easy farming

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

6.1

There is

provision for

tractor

/bulldozer?

43.5 50.2 5.2 1.1 - More than 90% of the respondents

insisted that there is no provision

for tractors or bulldozers by the

government. They also said they do

not even have the means to rent the

ones that are scantily available for

rent in their locations.

6.2

I use multi-

Crop

harvester to

harvest my

farm produce

51.3 46.5 2.2 - - In response to the question of using

multi-crop harvesters, almost all of

them said they do not use them with

a lot of them not even knowing

what and how they look like.

51

6.3

I use

broadcast

spreader for

sowing and

fertilizing my

cocoa

seedling

50.0 47.0 3.0 - - 97% percent of the respondents

also said they do not use broadcast

spreader for any activity it entails

on their farms with many not

knowing they even exist. Again,

this apparent loss of touch with

advancement in technology in the

agricultural sector does not bode

well for the future of farming in

these locations.

Table 10; Question 7: Analysis of Access to loan

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

7.1

Is loan from

family and

friends or

personal

savings

2.2

4.6 5.6 38.7 48.9 Most respondent tend to use their

personal savings for their farm

work, or loans from family

members and friends which in most

cases are not always much. This is

an indication that lack of capital

plays a huge role in the dearth of

farming generally in the locations

accessed.

7.2

Is loan

collected from

government

and is it easy

to access loan

from

government

35.3 45.2 15.2 4.3 - According to 80 percent of the total

respondents attests that loans are

not easily accessible to be collected

from the government. Considering

the huge capital needed to run the

cocoa farm, government’s

intervention through loans and

grants is greatly required.

52

7.3

Is Loan from

financial

institution

(Bank or

lending house)

15.5 17.5 5.5 30.5 31.0 Above half of the total respondents

confirmed that farmers get loans

from financial institutions i.e.

commercial banks and lending

houses.

7.4 Is loan from

cooperative

organization

5.6 8.3 4.5 35.0 46.6 Majority of the total respondents

also said they take loans from

different cooperative societies

which they belong to, as they are

the most accessible means of

getting loans.

Table 11; Question 8: Assistance from private organizations

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

8.1

Is there any

form of

assistance

from any

private

organisation

regarding

your farming?

43.3 31.7 15.0 10.0 - A very low percentage (10%) of the

total respondents assert that they

have gotten some form of

assistance from private

organization. This implies that

even private support for farmers in

the Ekiti state is very poor

compared to the number of private

organization in the state.

8.2

Is the

assistance

provided by

private

organisation

readily

accessible?

50.2 45.3 4.5 - - Also, majority of the total

respondents confirmed that

assistance from the private

organizations are not easily

accessible and in most case, they

are been politicized. Hence, any

farmer who is not actively involved

53

in politics might not have access to

assistance from private

organizations. Organizations are

not easily accessible, a and in some

cases, they mostly have to lobby

before being considered for such

schemes.

8.3

is the

assistance

provided in

form of loan

or

grant?

15.0 20.2 15.3 30.2 20.3 Half of the respondents revealed

that the most common form of

assistance rendered is loans and

grants. Also, more than one-third

of the respondents said the form of

assistance is not capital related.

8.4 Is the loan or

grant

returnable?

- - 10.3 33.7 56.0 Almost all respondents (90%) said

the loans and grants are returnable

with interest.

Table 12; Question 9: Analysis of the investment in infrastructural supports facilities in your

community such as roads, irrigation etc.

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

9.1

Is there good

roads that is

easily

accessible to

the farmland?

69.3 30.7 - - - All the respondents responded that

there are no good accessible roads

leading to the farms. This explains

the reason why many people who

would have love to farm lost

interest in the job. The little farmers

that are still farm faces this

problem as most of their farm

produce spoils before getting to the

market as a result of delay in

getting them to the market.

54

9.2

Is there

provision for

irrigation by

government

In your

farming

environment?

66.0 34.0 - - - All respondents r no help in the

form of irrigation from the

government to farmers in Ekiti

state. This coincides with the

previous response that the

government have not done much in

supporting agriculture in the state.

9.3

Is there a

provision for

an available

market to sell

your cocoa

farm produce?

52.3 44.5 2.0 1.2 - Most farmers said they have no

specific market to sell their goods

and sell to mostly people that they

have dealings with in the past or

random buyer. This is an indication

that cocoa, being a major cash crop

in the country has no big merchant

in the state and it has negatively

affected the farmers’ morale about

agriculture.

9.4 Is there a

provision of

facilities for

cocoa storage/

processing/

preservation?

38.3 40.6 15.1 6.0 - Majority of the respondents said

they do not have storage facilities

either privately owned or by the

government. This greatly leads to

spoilage of the harvested farm

produce.

Table 13; Question 10: Analysis on the Ease of farming business environment in terms access

to land, improved seedlings, fertilizers etc.

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

10.1

Is there

provision for

land and is it

accessible?

- 2.7 59.4 38.3 The opinion of the respondents

concerning the availability of lands

for agriculture shows that there are

lands available for farming. These

55

lands mostly belong to previous

farmers, who have died and their

children and families have

inherited the lands. Also, there are

abandoned lands by the

governments which the farmers

believe are good for short time

farming.

10.2

Is the land

leased or

purchased?

20.2 15.4 5.0 23.8 35.6 The responses from the

respondents show that the available

lands are either leased out to them

by the original owners or sold out

to them depending on the kind of

agriculture they want to engage in.

10.3

Are the

seedlings

available

within your

environment?

45.7 38.5 14.4 1.4 - A clear majority of the respondents

said the seedlings are not readily

available in their environment and

they have to go through a lot of

hassle to buy them.

10.4 The

fertilizers,

manure,

pesticide etc.

are available

at your farm

environment?

46.8 43.8 7.5 1.9 - The fertilizers and other farm

improvement products are not

readily available in the

environments of the respondents as

indicated in their response, with

just 2% saying otherwise.

56

Table 14; Question 11: Analysis on Research initiatives to improve the farming through

development of resistant seeding to disease/ pest and replanting in the state (eg. The Cocoa

Research Institute of Nigeria –CRIN)

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

11.1

Is there a

provision

for

developmen

t of cocoa

seeding in

your area?

25.4 28.4 44.2 2.0 - More than 50% of the respondents said

there no provision for the development of

cocoa seedlings in their location that they

are aware of, almost 45% said were

neutral and said they were not sure if such

program exists or not and just 2% said

they exist.

11.2

Is there a

centre for

agricultural

research and

extension?

To boost

productivity

?

28.3 25.1 46.4 - - More than half (53%) of the respondents

also said there is no center for agricultural

research in their area, while 46 percent

said they do not know if they exist or not.

This is an indication that government and

private owned organizations that could

have help agriculture in Ekiti state by

establishing research institutes have

diverted their attention into other thing.

Thereby leaving agriculture in the state

unattended to.

11.3

Is there an

agency for

Cocoa

research,

Communica

tion and

information

centre

32.3 30.1 35.0 2.6 - In response to the question about the

existence of an agency for cocoa research,

62% of the respondents said there are

none, 2.6% said they know of one and

35% said they cannot if there is an agency

like that or not. This shows that if such an

agency exists, then they have not taken

enough farmers on board.

57

Table 15; Question 12: Supports for farmer’s incentives and farm extension workers

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

12.1

Is there

a specific

incentive for

farmers and

farm

extension

workers?

44.4 30.6 6.0 19.0 - In response to the question about

provision of incentives to the

farmers or farm workers, almost

20% of the respondents said there

are some forms of incentives

coming in through the farmers’

association they belong too.

However, they believe that these

incentives are coming as a result of

their monthly contribution made to

help one another in the time of

problem. But majority of the

respondents said there are no

incentives because they do not see

their contribution as incentives but

rather a help they rendered for one

another

12.2

Is there any

additional

support from

NGOs for

farm

extension

workers?

38.6 48.8 9.2 3.4 - More than 85% of the respondents

bemoan the lack of support from

NGOs and said most NGOs expect

the farmers to pay a large sum of

money before they can help the

farmers.

12.3

There is a

special

remuneration

and incentive

49.4 44.6 6.0 - - More than 90% of the respondents

said apart from the normal usual

incentives that there are no special

remuneration package or

incentives for the workers.

58

for farm

extension

workers

Table 16; Question 13: Analysis of the form of Incentive does farmers/ farm extension workers

enjoy?

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

13.1

Length of

tenure: The

longer you

work on the

farm, the

higher your

income

25.0 27.0 2.0 39.0 7.0 Forty six percent of the total

respondents replied that despite the

little capital they have, they pay

their workers more if they work for

more hours, while more than half

(52%) said they only agree on the

amount to pay based on the amount

of acres to be worked on.

13.2

Equity

accumulation:

farmer is

given specific

Seedling and

land to plant

and harvest

with the

Equipment

freely

45.0 55.0 - - - All the respondents said they have

to buy the seedlings on their own

and at great cost. Also, they have to

hire equipment from private

individuals and they charge more

should know exceed the agreed

duration for the usage of the

equipment.

13.3

Physical

production:

the more you

produce, the

more your

incentives

20.4 36.0 3.6 40.0 - Around 40% of the respondents

said they incentivize their workers

if they produce more as way of

encouraging them while more than

half (56%) said they have fixed

wages that they give to farmers and

they are binded by that agreement.

59

Table 17; Question 14: Policies on price control and information dissemination to farmers

beneficial to farmers

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

14.1

There is a law

that controls

/regulate

prices of

seedlings and

farm tools

60.0 40.0 - - - All the respondents were

affirmative with their answer that

there are no laws that control the

prices of seedlings and farm tools.

This is an indication that sellers of

these seedlings and farm tools sell

at different prices and this is very

bad for the progress of agriculture

in the state.

14.2

There is a

forum for the

dissemination

of information

to farmers to

keep them

updated on

current price

change

62.3 34.7 3.0 - - Again, in response to the question

about a forum for dissemination of

information to farmers as regards

price change and other things,

almost all of the respondents (97%)

said there is no forum for that.

Rather, they only get information

about the current price from co-

farmers who came back from the

market to acquire some.

14.3

The

government

are the ones

regulating the

prices of farm

goods/

services

52.7 41.3 6.0 - - From the response gotten from the

farmers as regard the government

being in charge of regulating the

prices of farm produce and

services, more than 90% said the

prices are not government

controlled. This is an indication

that the government have shown

less concern about the well-being

of farmers in the state so far.

60

14.4 There is no

price control

anywhere,

everyone sells

at whatever

rate they want

- - 5.5 30.8 63.7 More than 90% of the respondents

said prices are determined by them

and other forces and not by any

agency or government board.

14.5 Price control

is regulated by

season and

consumer

demand

3.0 8.0 12.0 28.0 49.0 Price being influenced by season

and customer demand is strongly

reflected in the answers of the

respondents, as more than 80% said

it does influence it. This is an

indication that price of farm

commodities are likely to be on the

high side at planting season and

becomes lesser at harvest season.

Table 18; Question 15: Development of efforts at collaborative planning for improvement of

variety methods of farming in the state for better output (state and farmer’s association)

NR

PERCENTAGE

DISTRIBUTION

INTERPRETATION

VW W N S VS

15.1

There are

efforts to

collaborate

and improve

methods of

farming in

Ekiti state

20.3 22.4 35.8 18.2 3.3 Almost 43% of the respondents

believe there are no efforts being

made to improve the obsolete

methods of farming in the state,

35% were neutral in their own

analysis and just a little above 20%

said they know there have been

efforts made in that regard because

there are promises by politicians to

improve the state if they are voted

into office.

61

15.2

There is a

forum where

farmers meet

and are

enlightened

on the best

methods of

farming

18.4 23.0 10.6 40.5 7.5 Almost half of the respondents

(48%) said they have a forum

where they meet and discuss about

the best farm practices with just a

lesser percentage (41%) saying

they do not belong to any forum.

This just implies that a huge chunk

of the farmers are not being carried

along in the process because they

believe that the farmers’

association they belong to is not the

right place for that.

15.3

There is a

monthly/week

ly meeting of

farmers in my

area that aims

to diversify

different

methods of

farming that is

geared

towards

productivity.

12.8 16.9 8.7 44.4 17.2 In response to the question of if the

farmers hold regular meetings that

are aimed at increasing their

outputs, more than 60% of them

said they do and it has been a long

time practice for them. Although,

they meet at the association level to

engage in their monthly

contributions and help one another,

but they have not received any

external body to tutor them on the

improved methods of agriculture.

2.4. Qualitative Research Analysis of respondents who are farmers

The qualitative research analysis that employs the use of interview to achieve the purpose of

this research opens the way for the researcher to hear the opinion of the existing farmers in Ekiti state.

The opinions of these farmers are presented in the table below; the nine (9) respondents, interviewed

at the three local governments of Ekiti state under study are all male and have been involved in

farming for a minimum of 7 years; coupled with this fact, these respondents all belongs to the All

Farmer’s Association. The respondents are tagged “interviewee A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I”

respectively. The opinions of the respondents retrieved from the interviewed are centered on the

current situation analysis, identification of hindrances, remedies to improvement of improvement of

62

performance of agriculture towards a sustainable growth of agribusiness in Ekiti state. The analysis

is summarized extracting key points from the interview as tabled below.

Table 19: Analysis of interview

Themes Description

Analysis of current performance of

Agriculture

Decline of Agriculture (Farming) in the state

Low yield of farm production

Decline in expansion and investment in

Agriculture

Decline in the level of available labor

Decline in interest rate

Weak information on technical inputs,

incentives to farmers etc.

Lack of social amenities

Lack of security

Inappropriate use of agrochemical for pest in

disease control

Technical relationship between input and

output functions is weak

Identification of the hindrances to

improvement the improvement of Agriculture

Poor investment in Agriculture and research

institute in the state

Inadequate man-power and funding from the

state government

Inadequate involvement of private sector in

research and extension services

Lack of collaboration between the

government and private sector for investment

in Agriculture development, and other

agricultural services

Inability to expand farmland due to private

ownership of land

Lack of basic infrastructure such as roads,

irrigation, agrochemicals etc.

63

Lack of Social amenities such as electricity,

pipe-borne water, network etc.

Lack of security against the farmers and

herders clash

Age of farmers and inclination to the use of

traditional methods

Climates change and over dependence on the

natural weather.

Ineffective coordination of the research

institute and markets associations

Suggested remedial procedures

Acquisition of adequate and reliable data on

Agriculture in Ekiti state and in Nigeria at

large to ascertain challenges and right

strategies to alleviation of the highlighted

problems faced by farmers

Adequate and resolute investment in

Agriculture

Investment in infrastructures for ease of

Agriculture

Effective policies for access to credits to

improve agriculture by farmers

Seek private sector investment and

collaboration in agriculture to compliment

government’s efforts through investment and

programs

Equipment of research agency for capacity

building and effective distribution of cocoa

improved seedlings

Adequate and favorable policies towards land

acquisition for expansion of Agriculture in

the state

Educating the youths and involving youths

through seminars and workshops with

necessary support by government and

64

collaboration with private entity about their

commitment into Agriculture

More budgetary allocation to state agency

and research institutes to function better

Measures to curb security concerns in farm

environment

Policies to settle the dispute between farmers

and herders in the state

The opinions of the farmers through the survey carried out on the sustainable growth of

agribusiness in Ekiti state revealed that there is a need for serious measures to be taken if Ekiti state

can turn to a hub of agribusiness in Nigeria. These measures are numerous because currently,

agriculture is currently experiencing a downslope in the country. These measures include massive

campaigns on the necessity of citizens, especially the youths who still have the energy to work hard,

to embrace agriculture as it has the potential of alleviating poverty in the society and boosting the

country’s economy while also returning the country lost glory. Also, there is a need for technological

and technical assistance in production through both private and public entities, re-structuring of the

market coordination and association to improve farmers return on investment in cocoa.

Also, there is a need to invest in the local processing of cocoa products as this will attracts

additional benefits to the economy from various inputs and services required for its production.

Sowumi; Famuyiwa; Oluyole; Aroyeun and Obasoro (2019) states that some contributory factors to

reduction in farm production in Nigeria has include the inability of government to provide subsidies

and inputs to farmers, poor access to roads for major producing states, education etc. therefore, if

agriculture is to be boost the country’s economy and become a major part of the country’s economy,

investment from the government will go a long way into revving the lost glory of agriculture in

Nigeria. To this effect, this study corroborates with Temitope Bolanle Aiyelagbe position that the

Nigerian government could borrow ideas from Ghana, another African country who has proved that

heavy investment can boost the country’s outcome in agriculture.

In summary, this part of this research study has successfully discussed the methods adopted

for the purpose of achieving a good and reliable result in this study. With full focus on the Ekiti state

agribusiness as a case study for this study, the mixed method of research which include the

quantitative and qualitative research methods prove effective for the study. Quantitatively,

questionnaire was as a technique to investigate the current state of agribusiness in Ekiti state as well

as to investigate the possible way to improve the agricultural sector as proposed by the selected

65

respondents for this study. Same way, the interview was conducted to support the result gathered

from this survey. Therefore, the analysis of the question asked in the survey has also be discussed in

this part of the study. The subsequent part will therefore focus on the PEST and SWOT analysis of

Agribusiness in Nigeria using Ekiti state as a case study.

66

3. PEST AND SWOT ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE OF

AGRICULTURE IN EKITI STATE

3.1. PEST analysis for the promotion of Agribusiness in Ekiti State

According to Aguilar, J, (2017) PEST analysis is an analysis that weighs the influence of the

political, economic, social, and technological impact on the object of study (2017). Therefore, the

PEST analysis of this study is concerned with the analysis of the influence of the political, economic,

social and technological impact on Agribusiness in Ekiti state. Therefore, it becomes important to run

a PEST analysis which will enable this study to identify those factors that could impact the

improvement of Agribusiness in Ekiti state now and in the future. To achieve this, the PEST analysis

will be divided into two parts, the first part will focus on the opportunities of the PEST (Political,

Economic, Social and Technological) on the object of study while the second part will focus on the

threat of the PEST on the object of study.

Opportunities

Political factors (P): this examines the extent the political nature of Ekiti state which is the

case study for this research will affect the agribusiness environment in the state. Considering the

nature of Nigeria that run a democratic system of government, the change in political power has over

the time affected the policies made for the improvement of agriculture in the country. This is due to

the fact that since the country gained her independence in 1960, the country has gone through

incessant regime changes by alternating between military and civilian rule. This has however made

it very difficult for policies made to work because every government came in with its own policy and

debunk the previous policies made by the past regimes. Also, the process of making decision in the

country has caused a lot of downslope in the improvement of agricultural sector in the country. For

instance, Nigeria has three major arms of government which are the Executive, Judiciary, and

Legislature. While the legislative arm of government consists of the National Assembly, the

Executive arm is made up of the President, executive arm of the National 35 Assembly, and the

highest judicial arm of government is the Supreme Court (CIA, 2016).

With this as a background, the efficiency of government institutions in making policies that

are capable of improving the agribusiness in Ekiti state will definitely encourage access to supports

and motivations that farmers in the state needed. Also, better attitude from the government towards

67

agriculture in Ekiti state, in the form of active and effective strategies as well as alliance accomplices

will upgrade improvement in the performance of agriculture in Ekiti state.

Economic factors (E): the sole reliance of Nigeria on the oil sector is one of the many factors

affecting the economy of the country today. Adeshina, Adeoje (2016) confirms that the Nigeria oil

sector remain the dominant sector of the economy, and despite the good result gotten from this sector

in boosting the country’s economy, the structural changes needed for broad-based development have

not been overly attainable. Hence, the government needs to be active in making efficient decisions

that will support and motivates the farmers in the state. Because, better attitude from the state

government in the form of effective strategies and alliance accomplices will definitely upgrade the

agribusiness in Ekiti state and can also serve as another source of income for the state.

Social factors (S): this aspect of the PEST analysis covers the entire aspect of life of the

people (age, sex, number, natural increase, birth rate, mortality, population migration), level of

education and social groups among the population, cultural beliefs and values (traditions, customs,

beliefs, religion) , culture), the individual needs of people (career aspiration, way of spending free

time, etc.) according to World Bank statistics (2015), Nigeria is a class society where titles, age,

wealth and gender takes centre stage in how people are treated or addressed. Therefore, Nigerian get

its labor forces from her monumental population who hustling for employment in the oil and other

functioning sectors in the country. Therefore, an improvement in agribusiness in Ekiti state will

provide more job opportunities for the population and will also bring about rapid social development

in the state. Developments like good roads, electricity, pipe-borne water, and so on which are basic

things needed for agriculture to triumph in Ekiti state.

Technological factors (T): this aspect of the PEST analysis focuses on the introduction of

advanced and new technology in the agriculture sector. This includes the availability and access to

modern farming tools, tractors, storage facilities, communication network, and so on. But

unfortunately, Nigeria relies on foreign countries/companies on technology and its primary

technological interest lies in the aspect of telecommunications, infrastructures, health care, and

defence. Consequently, CNBC Africa (2015) avers that this dependence offers scouter a chance to

investigate Nigeria's technological potential by taking advantage of the gigantic market specialty.

Along these lines, government support through sufficient strategies that will birth great innovation

that will improve the agribusiness in the state are required.

IDENTIFIED THREATS

Political factor (P): as stated earlier, Nigerian government has given chances to unnecessary

space in the decision making process which is seriously affecting the policies needed for the

improvement needed in the agriculture sector of the country. Therefore, it the political nature of the

68

country becomes a threat to the survival of the agribusiness in Ekiti state even if a good strategy is

proposed. This is because, the political environment of the country is filled up with corrupt

individuals, hence, the fear of these politicians, diverting any fund released for the improvement of

the agribusiness and the betterment of farmers’ lives into their pocket becomes a major concern. In a

similar vein, the weak policies made which have led to the decline of other sectors in the country

becomes a threat because these same weak policies still exist and as long as they are not eradicated,

they proffer a great threat to the survival of any other sector like the agriculture sector that wants to

rise.

Economic factor (E): economically, the unavailability of experts in the agribusiness is

another threat identified that could hinder the improvement of agribusiness in the state. From the

information gotten from the respondents, majority of the farmers in Ekiti only practice the old way

of farming which they believe is the best option because it is definitely working for them. Therefore,

should the government invest a large capital into these people, this can weaken the economy of the

state.

Social factor (S): with the improvement of the agribusiness underway, the social lives of the

youth which we are proposing to work as labor becomes an area of concern. As seen in the body of

literature, it is widely believed that farming is for the poor and people living in the rural areas, majority

of the unemployed youths who despite their status still managed to live expensive lifestyles might

become a great threat to agriculture because it might take time for these youths to adapt to the

agriculture life. A time that is not available should agribusiness in Ekiti state be improved. Also, the

lack of adequate social amenities in the rural settlements where farming is being practiced very well

becomes a threat to agribusiness in Ekiti state.

Technological factors (T): also technological factor can also be a threat to agribusiness in

Ekiti state. This is due to the fact that the urban areas are target for most of the developments in Ekiti

state which has led the rural areas underdeveloped despite being the hub for agricultural activities in

the state.

To promote agribusiness in Ekiti state, it becomes relevant to check the prospective strength,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are implied in such business like this. Henceforth, SWOT

analysis is a device utilized to help assess the possibility of agribusiness in Ekiti state through the

Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Nouri et al., (2018) asserts that

Examining and evaluating these factors will help gain insights into the past and think of possible

solutions to existing potential problems either for an existing business like this current one and a new.

69

3.2. SWOT analysis of initiatives towards improvement of Agriculture towards

sustainable agribusiness in Ekiti state.

Table 20: Swot Analysis

No. STRENGTHS Score

(0-5)

No. THREATS Score

(0-5)

1. Fertile/arable grounds can

make crops flourish well.

5 1. Crude or peasant agricultural

practice

5

2. Strong Banking and Financial

sector.

5 2. Backwardness in the use of

technological advancement

5

3. A favourable climate

appropriation of both dry and

rain seasons offering

opportunities to two

distinctive growing seasons

with various harvests.

3 3. Lack of loan/credit facilities

to farmers/high interest rates

5

4. Easy arrangement of medium

and long term loans

3 4. Discouragement in

agriculture due to movement

of rural-urban farmers in

search for better

opportunities

4

5. Controlled cash supply 3 5. Low turnout of investors in

the agriculture sector

4

6. Insufficient finance and

capital resources

4

7. Lack of power supply, good

roads, security arrangements

and other infrastructures

3

70

8. Lack of information system,

new technology, and

scientific base

2

No. OPPORTUNITIES Score

(0-5)

THREAT Score

(0-5)

1. Agriculture becoming the

new source of income in Ekiti

state by contributing largely

to the state economy

5 1. Over dependence on the

allocation coming from the

federal level of government

leads to discouragement in

investments of the

agricultural sector

5

2. Reduce over dependence of

the economy on the allocation

coming from the federal level

of government

Reduce corruption

5 2. Very poor commercialization 5

3. Poverty eradication

4 3. Discouragement of youths in

the agricultural sector as

everyone desires to become

rich quickly

5

4. Increase in the value of

foreign trade rates by

significantly decreasing

imports

4 4. Threat of import substitution

impact to the nearby local

markets

3

5. Numerous opportunities

accessible in the banking, tax

assessment, mining, banking

and money, and various

sectors.

4 5. Increasing crimes, frauds,

scams, and corruption

3

6. High population make high

requests for products and

services

4 6. Increasing competitions in

the global markets and

tougher competition globally

3

71

7. Reach the requirements of

food and raw materials of the

rural areas

4 7. Lack of funds, high costs of

doing business, higher

opportunity costs

3

8. More opportunities for

diversification and

ultimately, progressing

economy

4 8. Lower economics of scale

while opting for globalization

2

9. Opportunities for many

investment opportunities for

the local entrepreneurs and

foreign investors

4

10. Capability of increasing

employment opportunities by

over 50%

3

11. Wealth distribution 3

12. Economic and political

updates drives high interest

for products and services

2

13. Reduce corruption 2

Key word: 5= Excellent; 4= Good; 3= Fair; 2= Poor; 1= Very Poor.

Strength: The strength of Agricultural sector in Ekiti ad stated in the Swot analysis above and

as related to this study, are seen in the natural climates as well as fertile and arable lands suitable for

carrying out agricultural activities in the state. With this, agriculture has the potential to improve its

capacity to contribute to the state economy as well as contributing the country’s GDP, Also it can

earn foreign exchange and contributes to the economy and others due to the international market

demands.

Weakness: As reflected in the SWOT analysis, despite the enormous strength in the Ekiti state

agricultural systems, its potentials to contribute to the development of the state is fraught with a

number of factors. Among these factors is the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria, which has diverted

the country’s attention from other sectors such as agricultural sector because of the increased and

quick returns with surplus funds from oil trade; also, there was high rural-urban migration, neglect of

farmers. Another factor is the unstable nature of the government policies regarding the socio-

economic and industrial development which now poses a major hindrance on the agricultural sector.

Also, farmers have also not being encouraged on adding value to their farm produce by way of quality,

72

processing, packaging and marketing; this has made their product not to be able to compete in the

international market. These factors and many others coupled with the use of unskilled labour,

traditional methods of farming as well as the poor usage of agrochemicals and others contributes to

the weakness here. Therefore, these weaknesses have a great impact on the improvement of

agriculture in Ekiti state.

Nevertheless, for the weakness to be managed and increase in the level of sustainable growth

in agribusiness in Ekiti state achieved, it is important for the government to create interest in the

agribusiness and stop the sole reliance on the oil sector by providing support for the agricultural

sector. Also, the problem of unskilled labor can be tackled through the help of farmers’ association

whereby the farmers are exposed to seminars by experts in the agribusiness who will trained young

farmers about the new methods that could be employed into the agribusiness towards achieving a

growth in agribusiness in Nigeria.

Opportunities: Despite the weaknesses highlighted in the SWOT analysis, opportunities

abound for Nigeria to bounce back to a place of reckoning in the agricultural sector. These

opportunities includes but not limited to diverting a percentage of the allocation coming into the state

from the federal government into agriculture, towards creating another source of income for the state.

This will not only be of benefit to the state government, but also be of benefit to the farmers who and

people of the state, while also reducing crime rate in the state.

Threats: as highlighted in the SWOT analysis above, there are several there are several

factors, threatening the improvement of agriculture in Ekiti state. Starting from the climate change

being experienced globally, this has the propensity of enhancing the high incidence of pests and

diseases. This made Nuga (2018) to affirm that the effects of the aforementioned may be more

pronounced as a result of land degradation activities. Also, the insecurity that has led to series of

clashes between the farmers and herders in Nigeria poses a great threat to farmers from carrying out

their farming activities over the fear of being attacked in the farms which are majorly at the

underdeveloped part of the state.

Also, the lack of adequate support by the state government to promote agriculture in the state

poses a great threat to the survival of agriculture in Ekiti state. The available lands that should have

been diverted into farming are too far from the town and the government has failed to lease out these

lands for farmers to use for agricultural purposes. To this effect, overcoming these threats will be a

good way of improving the agricultural system in Ekiti state.

In summary, this part of this research study has successfully analysed the Political, economic,

social and technological factors associated to Agribusiness in Ekiti state. Despite the opportunities

attached to agribusiness in Nigeria as indicated by these factors, it is very difficult to jettison the

potential threats these factors poses to the growth of agribusiness in Nigeria. Hence, it becomes very

73

important that the farmers and government collaborate with private enterprises to lift the agricultural

sector to a higher level. Also, the SWOT analysis examined the strength, weaknesses, opportunities

as well as threat attached to the agribusiness in Ekiti state. Therefore, for agribusiness to be

sustainable in the country it becomes paramount for the state government and every stakeholder

involved in lifting the agribusiness sector to a higher level work together to achieve a common goal.

To this effect, the subsequent chapter will focus on the strategies proposed by this study

towards the possibilities of sustainable agribusiness in Ekiti state as well as the conclusion.

74

4. POSSIBILITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF

AGRIBUSINESS IN EKITI STATE

Throughout the course of this research, it has become evident that there seem not to be a

strategy for the improvement sustainable growth of agribusiness in Nigeria. However, as a case study,

this study will propose suitable possibilities of sustainable growth of agribusiness in Ekiti state. As

explained in the earlier part of this study, agricultural practices are mostly carried out in the rural

areas of Ekiti state and in order to achieve a sustainable growth of agribusiness in the state, rural

development needs to be put into consideration. The development of rural areas relates not

exclusively to a supported expansion in the degree of production and inhabitants of rural areas,

including farmers, and a supported improvement in their prosperity, showed by expanding per capita

pay and way of life, yet additionally prompts a supported physical, social and financial improvement

of rural communities. Therefore, the possibilities of achieving sustainable growth of agribusiness in

the state, the state government must focus on specific objectives. While the achievement of explicit

farming objectives incorporates the plan of good food, fibers and industrial raw materials, work and

foreign exchange, the destinations of country progression embrace in addition a purposeful

improvement of the other institutional, physical and social establishments in such rural communities.

To this effect, the possibilities of achieving a sustainable agribusiness in Ekiti state require the

adoption of several strategies which includes the increase in the agricultural output which can be

achieved through the following strategies:

1. By expanding the total territory under cultivation

2. By expanding the usefulness of cultivated land

3. By utilizing high yielding varieties of seeds

4. By utilizing irrigation system to bring more land under cultivation

5. By utilizing more manure

6. By expanding the utilization of plant and livestock protection arrangements

7. By embracing multiple cropping, along these lines expanding the total area cultivated.

In addition, cottage industries development may be used as a methodology for rural industrialization

The above techniques get its sustenance from the environment and such a procedure thusly

influences the physical, chemical and socio-economic structure of the environment. For example, the

provision of infrastructures in rural areas requires the usage of scenes and various resources. Right

75

when these frameworks are finally developed, they change the actual idea of the climate as well as

the connection between resources just as the stylish and economic worth of the resources.

Also, the PEST and SWOT analysis also points to the lack of adequate funding as one of the

problem facing agriculture in Nigeria today. This is because Agriculture is being treated as a business

by policymakers, and rather it is seen more as a social service. Subsequently, Nwagwu presents that

the issues of agriculture revolves significantly around the issue of an absence of interest in the area,

that it very well may be settled with better joint effort between the private and public organizations

(PPPs) which will permit the gatherings arrange their assets to benefit the area (2019) In his position,

he portrays the PPPs as the connection between the public organizations and private sectors entities

under which the obligation regarding any or the entirety of the mix of planning, financing,

development, the executives and activity of public framework, utilities and different speculations that

were customarily embraced by the public sectors are legally shared and mutually undertaken by both

the public and private sectors, as a rule in relation to the sort of risks each parties can best convey

(Nwangwu, 2013).Hence, there is a need for the public and private organizations to collaborate

together if agribusiness must achieve a sustainable growth in Ekiti state. This made FAO to describe

the PPPs as a formalized association between public establishments and private partners intended to

address reasonable agrarian improvement goals, where the public advantages expected from the

organization are unmistakably characterized, speculation commitments and risks are shared, and

dynamic jobs exist for all parties all through the PPP lifecycle (FAO, 2016).

To this effect, this study believe that if there can be a partnership between the private and

public organizations; there are possibilities that agribusiness in Ekiti state will grow tremendously.

Possible areas for improvement then include:

Provision of services: Government should priorities the provision of certain services

that can aid the sustainable growth of agribusiness in Nigeria. This is because the study believes that

activities like provision of knowledge and skill transfer through trainings and other capacity-building

initiatives and also business networking would be provided. This becomes paramount for the

improvement of agribusiness in the state because majority of the farmers present at the state, lack the

modern knowledge of farming and would love to acquire new knowledge on how to improve their

farming from experts which they stand no chance to afford. Therefore, with funding coming from the

PPPs, such training is now possible and agribusiness in Ekiti state will stand a chance for growth.

Also, the provision of these services is crucial for the transmission of smallholder farmers from

subsistence to commercial agriculture (FAO, 2018). The provision of services additionally helps

upgrade the seriousness of the agricultural sector by adding to the improvement of the economic and

social states of farmers.

76

Provision of infrastructure: There is a need for adequate infrastructure in the

agricultural sector. Therefore government should place emphasis on the provision of infrastructure.

From the study so far, it has been identified that the lack of adequate infrastructure poses great threat

to the growth of sustainable growth of agribusiness in Nigeria. Therefore, the PPPs can help focus on

the provision of adequate infrastructure such as irrigation, agro-processing and storage facilities are

essential components of the agriculture value chain. In fact, the privatization of agriculture has

prompted the failure of farmers to build the necessary infrastructures required for themselves; because

of their high capital use that is required and the improbability that the investors would have the option

to recuperate the venture all through the life expectancy of the infrastructure. In this way, with the

assistance of the public authority and private organizations the cost might be sponsored.

Provision of storage facilities: Government should ensure the provision of adequate

storage facilities that will help in adequate preservation and storage for farm produce against wastage

and misused. This comes because of the way that one of the main considerations that have added to

the issue of agriculture in Nigeria today is the unavailability of storage equipment and facilities.

Nigeria experiences occasional spikes in the costs of foodstuff commonly because of the cyclical

nature of its weather. In fact, food is bountiful during the raining season and afterward as the nation

changes into the dry season, the shortage of food turns into an issue as food costs ascend as creation

eases back down. Also, post-harvest losses are also a perennial occurrence in Nigeria. The present

circumstance applies to most items just as grains. Therefore, storage equipment like silos will go a

long way to preserving agricultural products in Ekiti state, thereby proffering the possibility of

sustainable agribusiness growth in Nigeria because the problems of grains can easily solved by storing

the product including the grains during the harvest season when they are susceptible to waste,

ensuring that they are now available all year round.

Agricultural Markets: Government should ensure the development of market for

farm produce is fundamental for the development of the agricultural sector. It offers inspirations to

private sectors investor to give their resources to agribusiness projects understanding that there is a

clear path to returns for such investment. according to Barreti and Mutambatsere (2018), Another

notable fact is that a market play in a sector with infrequent production like agribusiness, is to help

direct the risks related with solicitation and supply shocks by changing stock when required in like

manner diminishing the value changeability looked by customers and producers. The presentation of

good and working market sector is not probably going to settle every one of the current issues related

with the market for agriculture in Nigeria. Yet, a market like this will go far into demonstrating a road

where farmers can trade their products for cash. This will likewise spur them of putting more in

agriculture since they make certain of where to sell their items whenever. Nonetheless, thinking about

the current economic situation of the state, the governments probably will not have the limit or

77

budgetary order needed to work a promoting of that norm, which will house marketers both inside

and outside the state. In any case, the government can team up with private associations to determine

this issue. Consequently, the government should focus on getting private sectors to ventures across

the whole farming value chain and ought to likewise be liable for setting strategies and guidelines

through its different organs in the area. The government should leave the fixing of expenses to

showcase impacts. Finally endeavors ought to be increased to privatize the ineffectual items trade to

make it more proficient. With this set up, the study accepts that the conceivable outcomes of a

sustainable growth in agribusiness in Ekiti state are very high.

Collaboration with private Partners: Farmers should try and collaborate with

private partners that are ready and willing to assist agribusiness in Nigeria through the help of

equipment of well-treated seedlings. Also, private partners who are vast in knowledge and are willing

to share this knowledge with local farmers will not only be beneficial to farmers but also benefits the

government because the country’s agribusiness will also be improved. Hence, there is a need for the

government to encourage collaboration with private partners in the agricultural sector.

Farmers Association: farmers should ensure that they belong to at least one farmers’

association. This becomes important to the success of the agricultural sector in Nigeria farmers have

the opportunity to deliberate on their experiences and as well can render first-hand assistance to one

another. Also, any help coming from the government or any private organization will be accessed

through the farmers’ association.

78

Conclusion

1. This research as stated earlier was bestowed with the aim of investigating the problems

hindering the possibilities of sustainable growth of agribusiness in Nigeria, using Ekiti state as a case

study. Therefore, with the quantitative research method adopted for the success of this research,

factors associated with the current agricultural system in Ekiti state was examined and analyzed. It is

believed that this is a model of the agricultural system in Nigeria. Hence, some factors that could

enhance the possibilities of sustainable agribusiness in Nigeria, using Ekiti state as paradigm were

highlighted. With the highlighted factors, the study therefore concludes that if the government can

invest more in the agribusiness, it will not only serve as alternative for the country’s economy, it will

also provide employment opportunity for the unemployed youths in the country.

2. From the review of relevant literatures, it becomes evident that agribusiness is very

important to the development of developing countries like Nigeria, this is a direct result of its

crosscutting nature along these lines influencing all areas of the country's economy starting from the

socio-economics matters, to farming, to trade, to promotion, industrials, climate, among others. Based

on this, among numerous others, the research recommend that the government at all levels ought to

as an issue of earnestness strengthen awareness about manageable agriculture to individuals and

establish a helpful climate that will empower more farmers to come into the field.

3. From the analysis of the data gathered through the questionnaire and interview

conducted, the study finds out that Nigeria has the potential of becoming a hub for agribusiness in

Africa. However, the lack of support by the government among many other factors is strongly

affecting the agriculture in Nigeria hence, considering the current economic situation of the state; it

is advisable for government to team up with private organization if lost glory of agriculture in Nigeria

could be restored to its best.

4. The study set up that agribusiness was positively related to economic growth in

Nigeria and the relationship was huge both over the long haul and in the short run. In any case, the

pattern in economic growth development of Nigeria have not yielded a considerable improvement in

the prosperity of a bigger extent of the populace particularly the rural populace whose essential

occupation is farming and thusly, a financial development that converts into destitution decrease,

upgraded food security, wellbeing status, instructive limit and youth empowerment in rural Nigeria

should be embraced.

5. From the SWOT analysis, it was discovered that the Nigerian government’s sole

reliance on the oil sector as the only way to boost the country’s economy poses a great weakness to

agribusiness in Nigeria. Therefore, for this to be tackled, it becomes important for the government to

79

invest more into the agricultural sector and equip farmers that are ready to be involved in agriculture

towards reviving the forgotten agricultural sector in Nigeria. Also, the issue of security which has

spurred farmers into using the arable lands available in the forest need to be addressed to enhance

free agricultural activities in the country.

80

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ANNEXES

85

ANNEX I

INTRODUCTORY LETTER

VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BIOECONOMY DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURE

SAMUEL MUDIAGA EGBEGBADIA

Research topic: Possibilities for the Sustainable growth of Agribusiness in Nigeria: Ekiti state

case analysis

Dear Sir/Ma,

This empirical survey is carried out in partial fulfillment of my study requirement in the above

caption school and your kind support through opinions you share is needed to fulfil the aim of this

research.

The questionnaire is designed to obtain information about the above mentioned subject in the

least burdensome way and your sincere response based on your knowledge and experience on the

questions is highly appreciated. Please note that the information you provide will be handled

confidentially and strictly for academic purpose.

Thank you for your kind assistance with the survey.

Yours faithfully,

Cc: All Farmers Association (AFA) - Ekiti state chapter

86

ANNEX II

QUESTIONNAIRES

PART A

Background information of Participants (quantitative analysis)

1. Gender of respondent (A) Male (B) Female

2. Age of respondents (A) Below 30 years, (B) 30 to 40 years (C) 41 to 50 years (C)51 Years and

above

3. Years of experience and operation of the Cocoa farming (A)1-5years (B)6- 10years (C) 11-

20years (D) 21 and above

4. The category of cocoa farm land(A) Small scale (below 5 hectares) (B) Medium scale (above 5

hectares) (C) Large scale (above 10 hectares).

5. Type of crops farmed? …………………………………………………………

6. Are there individuals available to work as labor? (A) Yes (B) No

7. Age range of individuals ready to work as labor (A) below 30 years (B) 30-40 (C) 41 yrs and above

8. Do you belong to any Farmer’s Association? (A) Yes (B) No If yes, what

Association?..................................................................................................................

PART B

(Please tick the table below as deem appropriate)

Very Weak –VW, Weak-W, Neutral-N, Strong-S and Very Strong –VS

1. The rate of performance of farming in terms of business success

NO Description

VW W N S VS

1.1 It business environment convenient or friendly

1.2 Is the business environment harsh or rigid

1.3 is government or private support encouraging

87

2. Their educational qualification

NO Description

VW W N S VS

2.1 No academic academy knowledge

2.2 Primary school education only

2.3 Secondary school level

2.4 Tertiary Institution

3. The description of the market for farm produce

NO Description

VW W N S VS

3.1 Available to local market ( villages and clans)

3.2 To region market ( cities, townships )

3.3 Supermarkets

4. The effectiveness of the collaboration between government and the farmers

NO Description

VW W N S VS

4.1 Is there government intervention regarding

farming cocoa in Nigeria?

4.2 Are there provision of fertilizers, improved

seedling and cash incentive to boost production?

4.3 Is there a provision for export of farm produce?

88

5. Availability of infrastructure

NO Description

VW W N S VS

5.1 Is there good road from farm community to other

towns

5.2 Is there electricity in the farm community

5.3 Is there good pipe borne/ irrigation

5.4 Is communication system good ( internet network

and telecommunication signal )

6. Availability of modern equipment for easy farming

NO Description

VW W N S VS

6.1 There is provision for tractor/bulldozer?

6.2 I use multi-crop harvester to harvest my farm

produce

6.3 I use broadcast spreader for sowing and fertilizing

my cocoa seedling

7. Access to loan

NO Description

VW W N S VS

7.1 Is loan from family and friends or personal

savings

7.2 Is loan collected from government and is it easy to

access loan from government.

89

7.3 Is Loan from financial institution ( Bank or

lending house )

7.4 Is loan from cooperative organization

8. Assistance from private organizations

NO Description

VW W N S VS

7.1 Is there any form of assistance from any private

organisation regarding your farming?

7.2 Is the assistance provided by private organisation

readily accessible

7.3 is the assistance provided in form of loan or grant?

7.4 Is the loan or grant returnable?

9. The investment in infrastructural supports facilities in your community such as roads,

irrigation etc.

NO Description

VW W N S VS

9.1 Is there good roads that is easily accessible to the

farmland?

9.2 Is there provision for irrigation by government in

your farming environment?

9.3 Is there a provision for an available market to sell

your cocoa farm produce?

9.4 Is there a provision of facilities for cocoa

storage/processing/preservation?

90

10. Ease of farming business environment in terms access to land, improved seedlings,

fertilizers etc

NO Description

VW W N S VS

10.1 Is there provision for land and is it accessible?

10.2 Is the land leased or purchased?

10.3 Are the seedlings available within your

environment?

10.4 The fertilizers, manure, pesticide etc are available

at your farm environment?

11. Research initiatives to improve the farming through development of resistant seeding to

disease/ pest and replanting in the state (eg. the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria –CRIN)

NO Description

VW W N S VS

11.1 Is there a provision for development of cocoa

seeding in your area?

11.2 Is there a centre for agricultural research and

extension? To boost productivity?

11.3 Is there an agency for Cocoa research,

Communication and information centre?

12. Supports for farmer’s incentives and farm extension workers

NO Description

VW W N S VS

91

12.1 Is there a specific incentive for farmers and farm

extension workers?

12.2 Is there any additional support from NGOs for

farm extension workers?

12.3 There is a special remuneration and incentive for

farm extension workers

13. There is a special remuneration and incentive for farm extension workers

NO Description

VW W N S VS

13.1 Length of tenure: The longer you work on the

farm, the higher your income

13.2 Equity accumulation: farmer is given specific

seedling and land to plant and harvest with the

equipments freely

13.3 Physical production: the more you produce, the

more your incentives

14. Policies on price control and information dissemination to farmers beneficial to farmers

NO Description

VW W N S VS

14.1 There is a law that controls/regulate prices of

seedlings and farm tools

14.2 There is a forum for the dissemination of

information to farmers to keep them updated on

current price change

14.3 The government are the ones regulating the prices

of farm goods/services

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14.4 There is no price control anywhere, everyone

sells at whatever rate they want

14.5 Price control is regulated by season and consumer

demand

15. Development of efforts at collaborative planning for improvement of variety methods of

farming in the state for better output (state and farmer’s association)

NO Description

VW W N S VS

15.1 There are efforts to collaborate and improve

methods of farming in Ekiti state

15.2 There is a forum where farmers meet and are

enlightened on the best methods of farming

15.3 There is a monthly/weekly meeting of farmers in

my area that aims to diversify different methods

of farming that is geared towards productivity.

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ANNEX III

FOR PARTICIPANTS SELECTED FOR QUALITATIVE EMPIRICAL STUDY

Background information of Participants (qualitative analysis)

INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. Gender of respondent (A) Male (B) Female

2. Years of experience as a farmer (A)1- 10years (B) 11-15years (C) 16 -20years (D)21 years and

above

3. Information on the performance of Agriculture in the state

4. Notable type of agriculture in the state

5. Provision for subsidies and agrochemicals to farmers in the state

6. Pest and disease control inputs

7. Farming inputs (e.g. dependent on natural weather condition or alternative supports

8. Farm Extension activities on methods of farming and production

9. Government policies on agriculture in the state

10. Potentials of agriculture as agribusiness

11. Suggestion on improvement of agriculture towards agribusiness in the state

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ANNEX IV

Literature reviewed and Interpretations

S/N Author Quotes Interpretation

1. Lewis, W. Arthur The unskilled worker is of more use to the

capitalist sector

The unskilled workers

are as important to the

economic sector, same

way with the skilled

worker; hence, they

cannot be jettisoned.

2. Gary In the subsistence sector, labor is employed

up to the point where its marginal product

is zero while the capitalist sector work will

be utilized up to where its marginal

products rises to the wage rate

The capitalist have the

capacity to even

employ more of this

unskilled labor to

increase the supply

rate.

3. Ootsuka K. The economy sector could develop just

by cajoling laborers out of the conventional

sector or from the position of the jobless,

and the traditional sector could compensate

for any mishap of laborers by drawing

laborers from a pool of subsistence labour

(including women and children)

The availability of

enough workers will

definitely open way

for the improvement

of the economy.

4. Lewis, W. Arthur Wages are the sum of two parts, a profit

from interest in human capital and an

economic lease procured by the laborers

since human capital cannot enter the

production function without being

encapsulated in a real individual. Laborers

designate themselves between the two

sectors to equalize the net profit

Workers’ wages can

come in two ways,

through investment in

human capital and the

economic rent earned

by workers.

5. Timmer, C.P Agricultural development is a multi-

sectional action that help and promote

The main objective of

agricultural

95

positive changes in the country and urban

territories.

development in any

given country

incorporates the

improvement of

material and social

welfare of individuals.

6. Schultz, Theodore. The person who farm as his progenitors

cannot deliver a great deal of food

notwithstanding of how rich the land or

how hard he works. The farmers who draws

near and acknowledges how to use what

science thinks about soils, plants, creatures,

and machines can create an abundance of

food anyway the land be poor. Nor need he

work so hard and long. He can produce to

such an extent that his siblings a great deal

of s and a portion of his neighbors will

move to town to bring in money. Enough

farm products can be created without them.

The conventional

agricultural sector

cannot grow with the

guide of the traditional

production factors

only, expect at a

significant cost.

7. World Bank In 1961, of the world's 3.0 billion people,

an expected 770.8 million (25.1 percent)

were directly occupied with cultivating, and

agribusiness addressed 13.4 percent of

generally pay (estimated regarding Gross

domestic product). In the half century since,

the world's total populace has expanded by

a factor of 2.4, to a sum of 7.4 billion, and

a lot of the worldwide economy has

contracted. In 2014, of the world's 7.4

billion people, an expected 1.3 billion (18

percent) were directly occupied with

cultivating, however farming addressed

simply 3.9 percent of by and large pay

(World Bank:2017).

Agriculture has the

potential of employing

more people and

taking a large section

of the population out

of poverty.

96

8. Alston & Pardey Today, an incredible still number of

individuals rely upon agriculture as their

source of livelihoods, and almost 50% of

the total populace actually lives in rural

areas, for the most part in agriculturally

based households.

A large population still

relies on agriculture to

make a living.

9. FAO The capacity of agriculture at generating

overall GDP growth and its near advantage

in decreasing poverty will vary from one

country to another.

The potentiality of

agriculture to generate

income to a country

differs from another

country.

10. Nwankwo O. C. The agricultural sector indeed has the

potentials to provide job opportunities and

raw materials for many agro-allied

industries.

Agro-allied industries

has the potentials of

providing job for the

population.

11. Garvelink, .J., K.

Wedding and S.

Hanson

The broad-based poverty reduction and to

achieve the food security in Africa, small

scale agriculture must be a central

investment focus

Small scale agriculture

should be developed to

enhance poverty

reduction and food

security in Africa.

12. Daramola et al Nigeria was regarded as a net exporter of

most agricultural products like cocoa,

rubber, oil palm, palm kernel, groundnut

among many other cash crops with

economic value.

Nigeria once did well

with Agriculture and if

they can invest in

agriculture, they have

the chance of reducing

poverty.

13. Ifeanyi et al. Full emphasis was placed on the oil

exploration, extraction and the profits it

brought

Nigeria focused on the

oil sector and

neglected other sectors

of the economy.

14. Cuong V.N. A country that relies solely on agricultural

export can be adversely affected by global

economic shocks.

Despite the capacity of

agriculture to reduce

poverty in a country, it

is not advisable for a

97

country to rely solely

on agriculture.

15. Hassanzoy Agribusiness comprises of a body of

knowledge, which is acquired from

different disciplines.

Agribusiness can

function as both an art

and a science of

managing any

agricultural business

enterprise.

16. Edwards & Schultz,

2005

Agribusiness is a dynamic and fundamental

endeavor that serves purchasers worldwide

and locally through development and the

board of different value chains that pass on

regarded merchandise and items got from

the sustainable organization of food, fiber,

and regular assets.

Definition of

Agribusiness as a

dynamic foundational

attempt that serves

buyers locally and

globally.

17. Pawa Tersoo The intrinsic value of agribusiness is that, it

involves a helpful energy of agro-

mechanical linkage and in the nutshell,

drawn in with the production and

appropriation of food and fiber needs of the

economy

Agribusiness, is a

contribution of

agriculture and

business, which can

enhance food creation

and provide what the

economy need to

thrive.

18. Okyida& Heady Albeit, the farm supply and production

components are very significant however

they rely upon such infrastructural facilities

like land, labour capacity, water and the

management

Despite the fact that

farm supply and

production

components are

important to a

country’s

development, they still

relies greatly on the

infrastructures like

Land, Labour etc. to

thrive.

98

19. Onwumere and

Onwunisibe

For the past 15 years, Nigeria’s business

community has focused on developing

sectors other than agriculture, including oil

and gas, telecommunications, and financial

services. The agribusiness sector has not

received consistent or adequate government

or private sector attention. n. As a result, the

agribusiness sector has not developed as

rapidly as other sectors of Nigeria’s

economy

The agricultural

sectors haven’t

received adequate

attention needed to

thrive like other

sectors.

20. Kutte and Tya The crucial issues confronting farming

mechanization in Nigeria today incorporate

the selection of mechanization procedures

that are generally brought about by the

government and the international agencies

who have failed to give adequate

consideration to the interests of farmers at

the neighborhood level just as the cycles of

technological change.

One of the serious

issues confronting

agribusiness in

Nigeria today, is the

absence of support by

the government.

21. Yakubu S. A. In larger part of Nigeria rural areas that are

useful for cultivating and other rural

activities, responsibility for is not

unmistakably characterized, however the

land has a place with the family.

Subsequently, an enormous number of

prolific land/soil might be left uncultivated

and fracture of land may cause low

efficiency.

Another problem

facing agriculture in

Nigeria is private

ownership of lands.

22. Oni the little road and rail constructed are fond

of crumbling as a result of poor

maintenance

Corruption is a

cankerworm affecting

the agricultural sector

of Nigeria.

23. NISER The agriculture system is mainly done

without the use of machines, hence human

labour becomes important in the production

Majority of farming

activities in Nigeria

99

system, accounting for about 90% of the

farm operations.

are carried out without

modern machines.

24. Chemonics The main cause of this migration is the

perception by young men that farm labour

cannot support them and their families.

Majority of the young

people that could serve

as labor in the rural

areas are migrating

because they feel

agriculture is not

sufficient enough to

put food on their table.

25. Udemezue Anedo Some Nigerian adolescents consider

farming to be a exceptionally random temp

Job, implied uniquely for the illiterate

living in the rural settlement.

Farming is seen as a

job for the illiterates

and old people of

Nigeria.

26. Akpan S. B. The local farmers are even pretty much as

clueless as they need modern agricultural

education. The stature of ignorance there, is

Nigeria's total negligence and, her non-

usage of native languages in the nation’s

Pursuits for modern education. Henceforth,

in this present reality, individuals that

actually Studies in foreign languages have

not actually begun Learning, and this

degree of lack of education and ignorance

do frequently comprise some genuine

Mishaps, even in Nigeria's food production

efforts.

Illiteracy is one of the

factors affecting

agriculture in Nigeria

as most farmers could

not acquire the modern

methods of agriculture

because they are

mostly taught in

English language.

100

Certificate

is awarded to

Egbegbadia Samuel Mudiaga

for the presentation at scientific conference

"Young Scientist 2021"

Possibilities of agribusiness in Nigeria. A case study of

Ekiti State

Prof. dr. Aušra Blinstrubienė

Chairperson of the Conference Organizing Committee

22 April, 2021

Kaunas

101