Introduction
Over the past few years, there has been an increased emphasis on the impacts of food security on the development of countries worldwide. Nigeria has not been left out in the wake of this as there has been an increased focus on non-oil sectors of the Nigerian economy one of which is agriculture and agribusiness.
Agribusiness as defined by Investopedia is the business sector encompassing farming and farming-related commercial activities. It involves all the steps required to send agricultural goods from the farm to the consumer. Agribusiness is encompassing as it covers all aspects of commercial agriculture. In the past few years, policies have been put in place to ensure the rapid growth and development of the Nigerian agribusiness sector.
Challenges
A lot of challenges have however hindered this growth and development. Some of these include:
- Unavailability of funds can and will be a challenge to any business endeavor. Agribusinesses in Nigeria do not have access to funds and when they do, these funds often come with exorbitant interest rates.
- The attitude of people especially the youth towards agriculture is also a major challenge. The stigma attached to agriculture has ensured that mostly only the aged partake in agricultural activities which leads to an overall reduction in agricultural productivity.
- Lack of proper knowledge and the use of archaic methods of agriculture is also a factor as these archaic methods are not efficient and lead to low productivity.
- The lack of adequate storage facilities also ensures that the majority of food produced by farmers is wasted.
The lack of adequate processing facilities is also a problem, there are no cottage factories in or around farming communities that can help them with the processing of agricultural produce before they are been transported to markets.
Prospects
Despite the above-named challenges, the potential for growth of the agricultural and agribusiness sector is immense.
- The agribusiness sector provides employment for more than half of the workforce in Nigeria either directly or indirectly. This implies that agribusiness is capable of reducing the unemployment rate in the country.
- The development of the agribusiness sector would lead to development in roads, markets, storage facilities, processing facilities which will all bring about infrastructural development in Nigeria.
- Increased engagement in agriculture and agribusiness would lead to a reduction in poverty and relative improvement in the food security of families all around the country.
- Agriculture is a source of foreign exchange and can help cement Nigeria’s place in the international market as an agricultural powerhouse.
To read more on how to access funds for agribusiness, click here, to also read on how ICT can help your agribusiness follow this link
Written by Alahira Jeffrey