Enhancing agricultural value chain for economic diversification in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined how enhancing the agricultural value chain can contribute to rapid economic diversification in Nigeria within the period of 1981-2015. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was employed as the econometric method of estimation. The inferences were drawn at 5% significant level. The result revealed that the agriculture expenditure had positive and significant impact on agriculture sector productivity in Nigeria. The findings showed that agricultural raw material, agricultural machinery and agricultural land have direct impact on agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Agricultural machinery and agricultural land were found to be statistically significant at 5% significance level. The empirical results revealed that capital and labour have direct impact on economic growth. However, agriculture productivity had positive impact on economic growth in Nigeria. The study concluded that agricultural value chain contributed significantly to the diversification of the Nigerian economy. The study suggests that government should make deliberate efforts to create institutions that will make policy programmes on agricultural development not only to enhance its growth and the overall output growth but also make it inclusive. Keywords: Agricultural inputs, agricultural expenditure, credit, agricultural productivity, Nigeria