Mobilizing Nigeria's grassroots for increased food production: Reaching out from the centre

Abstract

With the collapse of Nigerian agriculture following the petroleum boom of the 1970s and the debt crisis of the 1980s, the Nigerian government initiated in 1986 a new strategy of promoting rural development and enhancing national food production capacity. The new strategy entailed grassroots mobilization of small-scale farmers through effective community organizations. To give political muscle to this programme it was placed under the direct superintendence of the President in a Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructures. Tremendous changes are already being recorded, especially in the areas of rural feeder roads construction, potable water supply and increased food production.