Contribution of small-scale farming and local food supply to sustainable production and food security in Nigeria – A review

Abstract

Prior to the year 1970, agriculture was the main source of livelihood and backbone of the Nigerian economy until the discovery of oil drastically decelerated its potential to sustainably maintain food security and generate significant export earnings. Despite its sudden fall in productivity, agriculture still remains the main sector providing the highest employment (70% of the population) for the populace. To tackle these problems, many policies were formulated (from 1960 to 2015) to resuscitate the sector but to no availdue to failure in tailoring suitable policies to engage small-scale farmers and address other socio-economic problems. This paper constitutes an in-depth review of agricultural production and food security in Nigeria with relative importance attributed to local food supply and small-scale farmers. The article analyzes several documents of the Nigerian Government and international organizations, such as the Food and Agricultural Organization, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and a number of peer-reviewed journals across various disciplines to provide a balanced interdisciplinary review. The paper concludes that food insecurity is at its peak in Nigeria and urgent attention is required in the agricultural sector to compensate for the unstable food balance in the country. There is a need for the Government to take strong measures against the food deficit situation and to support the development of the primary agriculture sector. The paper proposes viable policies that could involve smallholders, aid transformation and positively restructure the agricultural sector.

Sustainable technical efficiency: evidence from vegetable (waterleaf: Talinum triangulare) production in southern Nigeria

“…Currently, waterleaf is an integral part of urban agriculture, and its production has become one of the most highly preferred livelihood activities among unemployed women in the southern region of Nigeria (Udoh and Etim 2008;Nya et al, 2010;Akpan et al, 2010;Uko et al, 2019 andAkpan, 2020). The sustainability of small-scale farm enterprises like waterleaf production is critical and is necessitated by the need to meet the dietary requirement of the teeming consumers and also achieve food selfsufficiency in the southern region (Akpan et al, 2019c andOlugbire et al, 2021). This is because the bulk of food produced in the country is derived from smallscale farm enterprises.…”