The Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Professor Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, has called for rapid modernisation of Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
Speaking during the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones Programme (SAPZ-1) High-level Implementation Acceleration dialogue and States Steering Technical Committee workshop on Monday, Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka noted that Nigeria’s agricultural contribution to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has remained stagnant, between 22 to 25 percent over the past 45 years, whereas, agriculture in the Netherlands contributes just 1.6 percent to GDP, yet the country exported food products worth around 120 million euros in 2023—three to four times the revenue Nigeria earns from oil. The reason, he said, is due to productivity.
The professor emphasised that modernization in agriculture is what drives such significant productivity gains, adding that radical change in Nigeria’s agricultural sector is needed to boost the nation’s economy and improve food security.
“When you modernise agriculture, you don’t need so many people on the land,” he stated.
He highlighted the gap between agricultural labour demands in Africa and more developed regions, pointing out that in an average African country, farmers require about 300 hours per acre to produce rice.
“In an average African country, farmers need about 300 hours per acre to produce rice. But in Cantonia, it only takes four hours due to extremely massive productivity,” he explained.
According to him, mechanization, fertilizers, and skilled labour are the critical factors that reduce farm labour time. This, he explained, directly affects employment in agriculture.
“In the United Kingdom, only 0.7 percent of the population is involved in agriculture, yet they feed themselves. Also, South Korea, with just 5 percent of its population engaged in agriculture, not only sustains its own population but also exports food to other countries. This is a country where people could not eat two meals a day,” he remarked.
Speaking on Nigeria’s trade practices, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka expressed concern about the country’s dependency on imports for refined petroleum products despite being a crude oil exporter.
“We export crude oil and import refined petroleum. According to OPEC, we export crude oil worth 35 million naira but import petroleum products valued at 77 billion naira,” he noted, pointing out how such trade patterns weaken Nigeria’s economy.
He noted with concern that Nigeria’s GDP per capita has stagnated for 45 years, in contrast to South Korea, whose GDP per capita has risen to approximately $32,000 within the same time period. For Nigeria to achieve meaningful economic progress, he argued, the country must grow its economy by 7 percent annually over the next decade.
According to him, the key to achieving this lies in developing the agricultural and industrial sectors. “If we get this right, if we ensure rapid growth in these two sectors, Nigeria can indeed double its GDP,” he added.