Why is agricultural productivity low in your country?

Answer Details

Agricultural productivity means output per unit of input, such as output per farmer or per hectare of land. In Nigeria (and similar developing economies) agricultural productivity is low for a combination of the following reasons.

• Use of crude and simple tools: reliance on the hoe and cutlass, with little mechanisation, keeps output per worker low.
• Poor and outdated methods of farming: traditional methods such as shifting cultivation and bush burning limit yields.
• Illiteracy and lack of training: many farmers are uneducated and lack access to modern farming knowledge and extension services.
• Shortage of capital and credit: farmers cannot afford improved seeds, fertiliser, machinery or irrigation.
• Inadequate use of modern inputs: limited access to fertilisers, improved seeds, pesticides and improved breeds.
• Land tenure system: fragmented holdings and communal or inheritance-based land ownership discourage large-scale, efficient farming.
• Poor storage and processing facilities: much produce is lost after harvest, reducing effective output.
• Inadequate infrastructure: bad roads, poor transport and lack of rural electricity make it hard to reach farms and markets.
• Pests, diseases and unreliable rainfall: crop and livestock losses and dependence on rain-fed farming lower and destabilise yields.
• Poor soil and environmental problems: declining soil fertility, erosion and drought reduce output.
• Rural-urban migration: the movement of young, able-bodied people to towns leaves an ageing farm workforce.
• Low and unstable prices: poor and fluctuating returns discourage farmers from investing and expanding.
• Inadequate government support: weak or poorly implemented agricultural policies and services.

Because these problems reinforce one another, output per farmer stays low. Raising productivity requires mechanisation, education and extension, credit, improved inputs, better infrastructure, and stable, rewarding prices.