Renewed Government Interest in Agriculture and Rural Wealth in Nigeria

For reasons ranging from dwindling oil revenue to environmental protection and poverty eradication, the Nigerian government have shown renewed interests in agriculture. While available statistics have shown increased agricultural outputs, not much is known about how the renewed interests have impacted the populations in rural areas where agriculture is the main livelihood source. This study investigated these impacts using occupational, wealth and other sociodemographic data from the 2008, 2013 and 2018 waves of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The datasets were analysed using frequency, Chi Square and Binary Logistic Regression. The study showed that the proportion of rural population engaged in agriculture declined from 52.5% in 2008 to 39.9% in 2013 before rising to 55.2% in 2018. In the three waves, rural population employed in the agricultural sector had increased odds of not being poor (OR: 3.431 – 6.151, P < 0.05) at the unadjusted level and when other sociodemographic confounders of rural wealth were controlled for (OR: 2.700 – 3.131, P < 0.05). The findings show that despite its seeming non-attractiveness in the face of other alternative sources of rural income, agriculture still possesses the capacity to positively influence the standard of living of rural populations in Nigeria. While the government’s major focus is on increasing agriculture’s share of the gross domestic product and contribution to national revenue in the face of dwindling oil prices, prioritizing aspects of agricultural development policies that enhance agricultural households’ income and wealth will make agriculture more attractive to rural populations