Nigeria@61: Agriculture and the burden of diversification (Business Day)

Business Day (Nigeria) published an article on the current economic crisis and the fact that FX inflow has dropped owing to crumbling oil prices, the Buhari-led government had no alternative other than to diversify the economy. Agriculture which was once neglected became an option for diversification owing to its vast potentials that can drive more sustainable economic growth in Africa’s most populous nation in terms of job creation, economic diversification, and foreign exchange earner. Nigeria, a significantly higher proportion of the farming area is still cultivated by hand tools. IFPRI reckons that Nigeria is still at the early stage of agricultural mechanization. But experts acknowledge that the mechanization of power-intensive operations has been slow.