Policy Somersault and Administrative Instabilities; Implications for Food Security in Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigerian government has injected a lot of money into various policies\projects to make the country free from food insecurity. Despite these efforts, there is still a high rate of hunger and economic recession in the country. However, the state of food insecurity today may be occasioned by the outcome of the very long neglect of the agricultural sector by the various tiers of government in Nigeria. In view of these, this paper analyzed the adverse effects of policy inconsistency and administrative instabilities on agriculture as well as food security in Nigeria. An analytical approach was used to review the following issues; agricultural policy and structural reform in Nigeria, constraints to food security in Nigeria, contributions of agriculture to economic growth in Nigeria, Gross Domestic Product and Agricultural output in Nigeria since 1970-2015, and the challenges of agricultural policy in Nigeria. In order to arrest the above problems, this paper, therefore, recommended that the Policymaking and agenda-setting processes should be critically assessed to devise strategies for improving agriculture and poverty alleviation in Nigeria. Agriculture should be subsidized in various forms to make it attractive to farmers and the likes of students. There is no subsidy that agriculture cannot accommodate because every human being whether poor or rich eats food and every citizen is a stakeholder in agriculture.