Describe the problems facing agriculture in Nigeria.
Explanation
Problems facing agriculture in Nigeria are:
(i)Unsuitable climatic conditions: Climatic conditions vary from areas of excessive rainfall to areas of excessive drought. These two types of climatic conditions are detrimental to crop and animal growth.
(ii) Poor technical knowledge: The farmers lack requisite technical knowledge and modern skills to raise the standard of farming and agricultural production in their countries.
(iii) Use of crude implements: West African farmers still use crude implements such as cutlass, hoes etc for farming. They have no opportunity for mechanized farming.
(iv) Rural- urban drift: The imbalance in urban-rural economy has led to rural -urban drift. Agriculture has thus been losing its vital labour force without replacing it with mechanization.
(v) Land tenure system: Land tenure system encourages small scale farming. Modern agriculture is difficult under the existing land tenure system which makes transfer of ownership of land extremely difficult.
(vi) Pest and diseases: They reduce the quality and quantity of agricultural products since farmers cannot afford to purchase insecticides.
(vii) Poor marketing facilities: The sale of products is limited to their immediate environment because of poor transportation and communication systems.
(viii) Inadequate finance: Consequent on the low income earnings of the farmers, savings and realization of capital for investment become almost impossible.