Building and integration of agricultural value chains in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The current efforts at structural transformation (ST) in Africa aim to remove the negative impacts of external shock and the weak linkages of the economy with the resource sector as well as eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development. Based on the compelling need for sustainable, inclusive and pro-poor development, this paper examines the role and place of building and integration of agricultural value chains (AVCs) in Africa using Nigeria as a case study. It pays very close attention to the production structure and challenges confronting ST in Africa and the case study country. Lessons from selected economies with respect to the part played by AVCs in their ST are drawn such as the need to be sequential and experimental in approach, strategic coordination, monitoring and evaluation of markets, and more active involvement of research institutes in AVC development activities.

RÉSUMÉ

Les efforts actuels de transformation structurelle en Afrique visent à supprimer les effets négatifs des chocs extérieurs et les faibles liens de l'économie avec le secteur des ressources, ainsi qu'à éradiquer la pauvreté et à promouvoir le développement durable. Basé sur le besoin impérieux d'un développement durable, inclusif et favorable aux pauvres, cet article examine le rôle et la place de la construction et de l'intégration des chaînes de valeur agricole (CVA) en Afrique, en utilisant le Nigéria comme cas d'étude. Il accorde une attention toute particulière à la structure de production et aux défis auxquels est confrontée la transformation structurelle en Afrique et dans le pays faisant l'objet de l'étude de cas. Des enseignements sont tirés de certaines économies en ce qui concerne le rôle joué par les CVA dans leur transformation structurelle, comme la nécessité d'une approche séquentielle et expérimentale, la coordination stratégique, le suivi et l'évaluation des marchés, et une plus forte implication des instituts de recherche dans les activités de développement des CVA.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural value chain
• structural transformation
• Nigeria

Acknowledgement

The authors will like to appreciate comments from participants at the two Authors Workshops jointly organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Centre for Trade Policy and Law, Carleton University/University of Ottawa. The financial support from the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Emeritus Professor T. Ademola Oyejide has published extensively and led various research projects. He is currently Executive Director of the Centre for Trade and Development Initiatives (CTDi). He was the Principal Investigator of series of research on selected commodities including Rice, Cotton, Textiles and Cocoa using value chain approach.

Professor E. Olawale Ogunkola is the current Head of Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Director of Trade Policy Research and Training Programme (TPRTP) of the Department of Economics. He was the Lead Consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on the 2015 Economic Report on Africa: Industrializing through Trade.

Professor Abiodun S. Bankole is the Coordinator, Trade Policy Research Programme (TPRTP) of the Department of Economics, Department of Economics. He was the National Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme on the study of “Options for Financing the SDGs in Nigeria”.

Notes

1 Aspiration 6(50) of Agenda 2063.

2 The Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union in January 2012, at its 18th Ordinary Session, adopted the decision (Assembly/AU/Dec.394 [XVIII]) to establish a the AfCFTA by the indicative date of 31 December 2017.

3 According to FAO, 2016, Africa’s agriculture, which is about 15 percent of GDP on average, employs over 50 percent of the total labor force. Smallholder farms constitute approximately 80 percent of all farms in Africa, engaging about 175 million people directly, out of which women comprise at least 50 percent.

4 In contrast, according to Page (2018), Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal actively participate in global value chains (GVCs) for horticultural products.

5 This is orchestrated by corruption-induced dilapidated domestic refineries, which are only being resuscitated in the last two years. After years of inactivity, the country’s three refineries produced about 6 million liters of petrol and 6 million liters of diesel daily in the month of June 2017, according to the Group General Manager of the NNPC.

6 Cooperative groups received a total loan of N1,885,000 (US$5,385) in five years, resulting in five persons collecting the average of N73,993 per person in the case of the NIRSAL loan.

7 One hatchery owner-beneficiary in Lagos state increased production to 150 tonnes of table size fish per annum from less than 70tonnes before CADP intervention.

8 www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/cadp-moving-farming-profitable-business/.

9 The Canadian High Commissioner, Mr. Perry John Calderwood during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria investment Promotion Commission, Abuja.

10 http://bauchistate.gov.ng/oxfam-line-project-to-empower-over-10000-rural-farming-families-in-bauchi/.