Designing agricultural strategies requires an understanding of the options for dealing with growth in the sector, its impact on targeted beneficiaries, and the investment required to achieve the growth. IFPRI's recent study identified agricultural growth and development options that can support comprehensive rural development in Nigeria, in line with its national agricultural strategy - the National Food Security Program - over the next nine years (2009-2017). This research highlighted five key issues to be considered when developing and updating agriculture strategies that aim to alleviate poverty through accelerated growth in the agriculture sector.
This Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Nigeria highlights the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). NEEDS gives special support to agriculture, industry, small and medium-scale enterprises, and oil and gas. Under the plan, the government will seek long-term capital for investment. Trade policy will be modified to unburden business of the red tape and complex procedures that hinder it from flourishing. NEEDS envisages forging stronger links between educational institutions and industry to stimulate rapid industrial growth and efficient exploitation of resources.
This Volume XIV analyses the New Growth and Poverty Alleviation Strategies for Africa. Institutional issues and perspectives in designing new growth and poverty alleviation strategies are considered in various case studies (Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Botswana and Tanzania). Other studies deal with institutional problems of resource-rich countries after conflict (Sudan), and with the institutions to enhance environmental protection parallel with economic growth and poverty reduction (Niger). Further studies deal with institutions to bridge the gap between formal and informal entrepreneurial sectors in Kenya and Tanzania. Local issues and perspectives for designing new growth and poverty alleviation strategies are considered in case studies on rural-urban development gaps in Tanzania, and on microfinance as an instrument for new growth and poverty alleviation strategies (Tanzania and Eritrea). A study on small farmers in Ghana provides information on the role they can play in value chains. Two studies on Nigeria highlight the local and the sub-regional health and poverty alleviation programmes and the relation to growth. Book Reviews and Book Notes on the theme are part of the volume. This Volume builds the foundation for a comprehensive strategy of policy reforms in Africa so as to integrate new growth and poverty alleviation strategies. Complementary to Volume XIV is Volume XIII on New Growth and Poverty Alleviation Strategies for Africa - International and Regional Perspectives. Both Volumes are of importance for all those who work in African countries as officials, executives, managers, researchers, and policy-makers, but also for all those who actively support Africa's development concerns at the international, regional, country, local and project levels. They will experience this Volume XIV and also the complementary Volume XIII as indispensable sources of insight, reference and inspiration.
One of the critical concerns in Nigeria is how to alleviate poverty in the country. The general prevalence of poverty in Nigeria is paradoxical because the country is one of the biggest oil-producing countries in the world. A 1999 World Bank report for instance showed that some 70 per cent of the population lives below the bread line - usually considered as living on less than US$1.00 a day. This raises a number of very important questions: What are really responsible for the wide prevalence of poverty in Nigeria in the midst of plenty? How is poverty manifested in the country? What alleviation strategies are in place? How effective are they? And what are the implications of all these for the country's democracy project, political stability, nation-building and development discourse? Contributors to this volume address these questions and provide insights into some of the central issues in the discussion of poverty, including how the poor themselves struggle to cope or adapt to their condition. Using multidisciplinary perspectives, the contributors critique the current alleviation strategies and recommend more viable and better- targeted approaches that will sharply reduce the incidence of poverty in Nigeria. _____________________________________________ * Mustapha C. Duze is a Professor of Sociology at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He did his undergraduate studies in Sociology at the University of Ife, Nigeria, and holds a PhD in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Professor Duze also holds a Diploma in Survey Sampling from the Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Abor, U.S.A He was Head of the Department of Sociology at Bayero University (1994-1999) and the Director of the General Studies Unit of the same University (2002 to 2006). He has published widely in scholarly journals and has co-authored several books. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Bayero University's Journal of interdisciplinary Studies. *Dr. Habu Mohammed holds a PhD in Political Science from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria. He has published widely in the areas of political economy, political development, peace studies, human rights, civil society and democratization. He is a co-editor of Readings in Social Science Research (2006) and editor of Concepts and Issues in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (2005). He is a Member of the Editorial Board of the faculty-based Journal of Social and Management Studies (JOSAMS). He was also a Fulbright Fellow at the Programme of African Studies (PAS), Northwestern University, Illinois, U.S.A. * Professor Ibrahim Ahmed Kiyawa did his undergraduate studies at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and a doctorate degree in Development Economics, from Maxwell School, Syracuse University, New York, USA. Professor Kiyawa was a Dean of the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria for a long time, and Head of the Department of Economics, which he founded in 1976. Professor Kiyawa has over 30 years of teaching and research experience. He has published extensively in national and international journals and has edited a number of books, including Management of the Nigerian Economy under Democratic Administration (2000), Accountability, Finance, and Financial Discipline in Local Government Administration (1999), Topics on the Nigerian Economy (1988), and Export Promotion as a Strategy for Industrialization (1988). Prof. Kiyawa is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social and Management Studies ( JOSAMS).
This paper discusses key findings of the annual progress report on implementing the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)—Nigeria’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The progress report highlights key accomplishments and shortcomings as well as outstanding issues. Key macroeconomic indicators improved during the last years, reflecting the authorities’ attention to macroeconomic management, an improved policy framework, and favorable external environment. Non-oil growth was robust, and despite unrest in the Niger Delta, oil production could fully fill the OPEC quota. The budgetary oil price rule was an essential anchor of fiscal policy.
This study uses an economy-wide, dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) model to analyze the ability of growth in various agricultural subsectors to accelerate overall economic growth and reduce poverty in Nigeria over the next years (2009-17). In addition, econometric methods are used to assess growth requirements in agricultural public spending and the relationship between public services and farmers' use of modern technology. The DCGE model results show that if certain agricultural subsectors can reach the growth targets set by the Nigerian government, the country will see 9.5 percent annual growth in agriculture and 8.0 percent growth of GDP over the next years. The national poverty rate will fall to 30.8 percent by 2017, more than halving the 1996 poverty rate of 65.6 percent and thereby accomplishing the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG1). This report emphasizes that in designing an agricultural strategy and prioritizing growth, it is important to consider the following four factors at the subsectoral level: (i) the size of a given subsector in the economy; (ii) the growth-multiplier effects occurring through linkages of the subsector with the rest of the economy; (iii) the subsector-led poverty reduction-growth elasticity; and (iv) the market opportunities and price effects for individual agricultural products. In analyzing the public investments that would be required to support a 9.5 percent annual growth in agriculture, this study first estimates the growth elasticity of public investments using historical spending and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth data. The results show that a 1 percent increase in agricultural spending is associated with a 0.24 percent annual increase in agricultural TFP. With such low elasticity, agricultural investments must grow at 23.8 percent annually to support a 9.5 percent increase in agriculture. However, if the spending efficiency can be improved by 70 percent, the required agricultural investment growth becomes 13.6 percent per year. The study also finds that investments outside agriculture benefit growth in the agricultural sector. Thus, assessments of required growth in agricultural spending should include the indirect effects of nonagricultural investments and emphasize the importance of improving the efficiency of agricultural investments. To further show that efficiency in agricultural spending is critically important to agricultural growth, this study utilizes household-level data to empirically show that access to agricultural services has a significantly positive effect on the use of modern agricultural inputs.
Nigeria has for decades placed enormous emphasis on diversifying its economy beyond oil and into sectors such as agribusiness and manufacturing. Lack of progress on the diversification agenda could be blamed on weak implementation and misalignment of public spending, but it also reflects more profound underlying issues. For example, declarations that any particular sector should drive diversification without offering clarity on specific investment priorities and expected outcomes will not persuade budget holders to allocate development resources. The lack of clarity also deprives policy makers and practitioners of the information, inspiration, and conviction to develop and execute sector plans that could operationalize diversification. Transforming Agribusiness in Nigeria for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities aims to provide that clarity by illustrating the potential of the agribusiness sector to accelerate inclusive growth, create jobs, and reduce poverty. Building on an early finding that this sector provides the best prospects for inclusive growth and more and better jobs, the book identifies the specific agricultural value chains with the highest potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes. The findings demonstrate, however, that the value chains with the most potential to pursue one policy objective are not necessarily as effective for other objectives, clearly calling for selectivity of value chains, depending on policy objectives. The book also estimates the level of growth required to meet specific jobs targets and finds that the growth burden is lower when on-farm and off-farm segments of agribusiness grow in tandem and higher if either segment stagnates. It concludes that a whole-of-agribusiness approach that emphasizes coordinated investments between on-farm and off-farm segments is needed to enable the sector to meet its potential in creating jobs and generating inclusive growth.
This volume sets out a strategy for raising rural incomes which emphasises the creation of diversified rural economies with opportunities within and outside agriculture.
