Impact of nigerian agricultural policies on crop production and the environment
SummaryNigerian efforts in agricultural development over the past three decades have failed to improve the country's economy. A review of the sector depicts a gloomy picture. Performance is reflected in environmental degradation, mounting food deficits, and decline in both gross domestic product and export earnings, while retail food prices and import bills have been increasing. These effects have further impoverished the smallholder farmers, locking them into a poverty web. The Government must seek to establish agricultural strategies which promote political stability, self reliance, public participation, sustained production and environmental security.
Effects of agricultural reforms on the agricultural sector in Nigeria
The various economic reform strategies undertaken by governments over a period of about three decades on the agricultural sector in Nigeria were the exploitative strategy, agricultural project strategy, direct production strategy and integrated rural development strategy. Overall, these economic reform strategies were geared toward the achievement of food self-sufficiency and food security, generation of gainful employment, increased production of raw materials for industries, increased production and processing of export crops, rational utilization of agricultural technologies for the improvement of life of its citizens. These strategies notwithstanding, government also pursued other on-going initiatives to step-up agricultural development across the country. The effects of economic reforms on the agricultural sector was examined alongside its fundamental roles of food security, supply of raw materials to industries ,provision of market, employment and foreign exchange as well as generation of savings for investment in agriculture and other sectors. Agriculture contributed minimally during the period in terms of output, market, foreign exchange and capital formation or transfer as a result of policy instability, poor coordination of policies, poor implementation and mismanagement of policy instruments and lack of transparency. It is recommended that an enduring genuine democracy and good governance should be allowed to thrive in Nigeria in order to achieve poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood and food security which will guarantee comprehensive economic development and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 
 
   
 
 Key words: Agriculture reforms, effects, agriculture, Nigeria.
Land Tenure and Agricultural Development
Many authorities believe that unsuitable land-tenure systems constitute the major economic obstacle to agricultural development. But problems of land tenure and land reform merit consideration on other grounds. The impetus for land reform is invariably political and not economic; there have been few radical parties in Asia and Latin America who have not had the slogan ‘land to the tiller’ as a part of their campaign. Conversely, much of the opposition to land reform has come, not from those who argue that such changes are economically unwise, but from those who derive political power from the possession of land. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in Latin America, where, since 1958, nearly every country has passed land-reform legislation; but few have implemented these acts, for the simple reason that those who passed the laws would be divesting themselves of their land and their power.