Agriculture

• Agriculture


  The production of crops, animals, fishes and forest resources for the consumption and other benefit of human
• Components of agriculture


  • Livestock
  • Fishing
  • Crop production
  • Forestry
• Livestock


  • Rearing of domestic animals e.g. pigs, cattle, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep to satisfy domestic consumption
• Forestry


  • Preservation of economic trees or plants, extraction of resources like furniture, plywood, boat, paper, electric poles
• Crop production


  • Food crops (e.g. maize, rice, beans, cocoyams, yam, tomatoes, corn, millet)
  • Cash crops (e.g. cocoa, palm oil, rubber, palm kernels, cotton, groundnut)
• Fishing


  • Breeding and catching of fishes from rivers for human consumption, major occupation of people in riverine areas
• Systems of agricultural production

  • Plantation farming
  • Peasant farming
  • Cooperative farming
  • Mechanized farming
• Plantation farming


  Use of large estate of land permanently planted with economic or commercial crops, land owned by government, private individuals or corporate bodies
• Peasant farming


  Subsistence agriculture, cultivation on small scale, land often owned communally, use of rudimentary farming equipment
• Cooperative farming


  Farmers come together to form associations or unions to obtain loans and aids from government to hire or purchase farming equipment
• Mechanized farming


  Extensive use of machines and advanced mechanical devices in agricultural production, ensures large scale production by replacing human labour with machines
• Mechanized farming has not been popularized in West Africa
• Mechanized farming


  Use of harvesters, ploughs, tractors etc.
• Importance of agriculture in West Africa

  • Source of raw materials
  • Provision of food
  • Provision of employment
  • Creation of market for industrial products
  • Source of income
  • Source of labour for industries
  • Source of foreign exchange
  • Development of towns
  • Provision of materials for shelter
• Problems of agriculture in West Africa


  • Literacy/ignorance
  • Lack of medical facilities
  • Use of crude implements
  • Poverty
  • Lack of credit facilities
  • Lack of storage facilities
  • Poor transportation systems
  • Problem of land tenure system
  • Problem of pests and diseases
  • Natural disaster
  • Poor marketing system
  • Rural-urban drift
  • Inadequate research and extension services
• Solutions to the problems of agriculture in West Africa

  • Granting of credit facilities to farmers
  • Improvement of transportation system
  • Discouraging migration
  • Mechanization of agriculture
  • Effective control of pest and diseases
  • Provision of medical facilities
  • Education
  • The use of research
  • Use of irrigation
  • Control of erosion
  • Farmers should be educated
  • Establishment of good marketing system
• Agricultural policies in Nigeria

  • Operation Feed the Nation (OFN)
  • Green Revolution
  • The National Accelerated Food Production Project (NAFPP)
  • The River Basin Development Authority (RBDA)
  • The Land Use Decree 1973
  • The Commodity Board
  • Agricultural Development Project (ADP)
  • Directorate of Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI)
  • Farm Settlement Scheme (FSS)
  • National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS)
  • Agricultural Loan Scheme (ALS)