THE TREND IN FERTILIZER CONSUMPTION AND ITS IMPACT ON CROP OUTPUTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyzed the consumption trend of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and total/composite fertilizers) and examined its relationships with selected crop outputs from 1962 to 2019 in Nigeria. Time-series data were used and were sourced from the World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization. The descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and Cobb Douglas production function were applied to analyze the data collected. The results revealed that fertilizer consumption over time exhibited a high level of volatility in Nigeria. The average consumption rate of 7.17 kg/ha for composite fertilizer was far below the minimum rate of 50kg/ha declared in Abuja in 2006 by African countries. Furthermore, the study established significant correlations between fertilizers and selected harvested land yields and crop outputs in the country. This implies that fertilizers can significantly regulate the outputs of crop enterprises in the country. The empirical results revealed that fertilizers were irrationally utilized in the majority of selected crop enterprises as their elasticities were either negative or greater than unity. Moreover, the decreasing return to scale was confirmed for each crop enterprise denoting decreasing contribution of fertilizer inputs to crop outputs growth in Nigeria. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Nigeria government should work towards achieving the Abuja declaration on fertilizer use.