A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI'S AGRICULTURAL POLICIES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nigeria's economy has traditionally been based mostly on agriculture, which employs a sizable percentage of the workforce and boosts GDP (Nwuneli, 2011). But as time went on, the industry encountered several difficulties, such as poor investment, uneven policy frameworks, and insufficient infrastructure. Acknowledging the strategic significance of agriculture, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, inaugurated in 2015, enacted a number of agricultural policies with the objective of reinvigorating the industry and guaranteeing food security, economic diversification, and rural growth. Prior to the 1970s oil boom, Nigeria's economy was based mostly on agriculture (Ndimele, 2017), which provided the majority of employment and export earnings. But the discovery of oil and the ensuing concentration on the petroleum industry caused agriculture to be neglected, which raised reliance on imported food and reduced productivity.

It had become an urgent national goal by the time President Buhari took office to diversify the economy away from oil. The vulnerability of Nigeria's oil-dependent economy was highlighted by the worldwide drop in oil prices and the ensuing economic slowdown, which led the government to concentrate on reviving agriculture as a way to achieve sustainable economic growth. The Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), introduced in 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, aims to boost food security, increase agricultural productivity, and stimulate economic growth. Later, in 2016, the Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP), which concentrated on offering financial facilities to small-scale farmers, took the role of the ATA. 

The administration of President Buhari implemented a number of significant programs and directives with the goal of revolutionizing the agriculture industry: Despite the country's abundant natural resources and temperate climate, Nigeria's agricultural sector has generally failed to reach its full potential. These strategies were comprehensive and ambitious, but putting them into practice presented a number of difficulties. Several limitations have impeded the sector's performance, some of which are Limited access to credit and markets for small-scale farmers; low agricultural productivity leading to food insecurity and reliance on imports; low-quality infrastructure, such as roads, irrigation systems, and storage facilities; high post-harvest losses from inefficient supply chains and lack of value addition; low private sector investment in agriculture; corruption and ineffective policy implementation, which undermines public confidence in government initiatives.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate President Muhammadu Buhari's agricultural policies critically in order to determine how well they meet these issues and advance Nigeria's transition to a sustainable agricultural economy. The study will analyze the policies' effects on food security, agricultural productivity, and the economy as a whole. It will also perform a SWOT analysis of the policies to determine their advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and threats. The results will offer perceptions for enhancing the application of agricultural policies and encouraging healthy agricultural growth in Nigeria.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

It has long been known that Nigeria's agricultural industry has the capacity to promote economic expansion, lessen poverty, and guarantee food security. Notwithstanding this potential, the industry has historically functioned poorly as a result of a number of issues such as poor infrastructure, restricted financial access, and uneven policy execution. President Muhammadu Buhari's administration implemented a number of agricultural initiatives after taking office in 2015 with the goals of reviving the industry, encouraging economic diversification, and ensuring food security. These programs, which included the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), the Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP), and the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP), were created to solve the structural problems ailing Nigerian agriculture.

Nigeria's agricultural sector faced numerous challenges even after the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and the Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP) were introduced. These included low agricultural productivity, which led to food insecurity and import dependency, inadequate infrastructure, such as roads, storage facilities, and irrigation systems, corruption, and ineffective policy implementation, which eroded public confidence in government initiatives. The ABP was started in 2015 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the goal of giving smallholder farmers access to funding and inputs, like fertilizer and seeds, to increase agricultural production and lessen the nation's dependency on food imports. (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2015).

The 2016–2020 Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) sought to accomplish food security, import substitution, job development, and economic diversification by building on the achievements of earlier agricultural policies. Enhancing agricultural productivity, market accessibility, and value addition were the main objectives of the policy. The National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) was created to address the ongoing disputes between farmers and herders. Its main goals were to modernize livestock production systems, increase productivity, and foster peaceful coexistence by establishing grazing areas and ranches (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2016).

The primary objectives of Buhari's agricultural policies were to achieve food security, reduce import dependency, create jobs, and diversify the economy. Despite these overwhelming considerations, there is still a knowledge gap about what was happening in the agriculture industry at the time this research was conducted between academics and the general public.

1.3 Objective of the Study

As much as this study is set out to carefully understudy and evaluate the agricultural policies of President Buhari, it is going to access the effectiveness of these policies via:

Outlining the Agricultural programs of President Buhari 

II. Discussing the achievements, difficulties, and critiques of these programs 

Evaluating how President Muhammadu Buhari's agricultural policies have affected Nigeria's agricultural output. 

Evaluating how well the policies have addressed the issues confronting Nigeria's agriculture industry. 

1.4 Research Questions

What were President Buhari's major Agricultural Policies?

What were successes, challenges and criticisms of these policies?

How did the President Muhammadu Buhari's agricultural policies on agricultural productivity in Nigeria impact the Nigerian agrarian population?

To what extent did these policies address the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Nigeria?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study contributes to existing body of knowing in scholarship and historiography of agriculture and policy evolution in the country. Understanding that agriculture was the mainstay of the economy of Nigeria prior to the oil boom, and observing how the nation plunged into so much suffering following the crash in oil market, it is worthy of evaluation, policies put in place by Nigerian leaders to curb the menace of poverty. Therefore, this study is to understand the policies and the challenges and success of the policies by one of Nigeria’s tope leaders (President Buhari) and how they met required targets and their failure.

The study carefully outlines various agricultural programs and policies set in motion during the led President Buhari’s administration. It goes further to discuss relevant achievements, challenges and criticism these programs and policies encountered. The study presents a careful evaluation of how these policies and programs were able to affect Nigeria’s agricultural output, thereby reflecting in other sectors of the nations. Bearing salient issues that confronted agricultural sector of the nation, this study evaluates carefully, the efficiency of these policies in tackling these salient issues.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study concentrates on leadership, policy making, and agriculture. Within three themes consist a lot the researcher shall expandciate. However, the researcher was limited to end begin and end the research between 2015 and 2023. A lot may have happened in the policy room of the nation before and after this period, but, the research is limiting this study the originating and terminating chronology. Furthermore, this study is centered on Nigeria. Therefore, within the timeframe under study, major agricultural policies from the nation falls within the scope of this study. Bearing multiple facets of polices put up within the allotted timeframe, the study’s attention is fixed on agricultural policies alone. 

1.7 Limitations of the Study

This research had a number of constraints, which nearly seems like a problem for studies, yet they didn't affect the caliber of the work or the conclusion. For example, the researcher was not allowed to speak with any person in a position of responsibility because they believed the study might reveal confidential information. In instances such as these, the investigator merely utilized the data at hand, thereby creating opportunities for additional investigation into the topic.  Furthermore, there was a real financial component. The nation was experiencing a bit of an economic crisis at the time the research was started. This one element prevented the researcher from traveling to the intended areas to gather firsthand information from witnesses.

1.8 Research Methodology

The researcher was presented with an abundance of research techniques to stimulate this study. To reach a conclusion, the researcher, however, used a historical design in conjunction with a qualitative technique. The historical design makes it possible to thoroughly understudy the policies of president Buhari on agriculture within the specified time period. As a result, the researcher used evidence from secondary sources. The researcher meticulously compiled a chronological timeline of significant policies that what where put in place within 2015 and 2023, categorizing them as appropriate.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Agricultural policies: Agricultural policies are government programs and regulations aimed at improving agricultural productivity, food security, and the overall well-being of farmers and rural communities.

Policies: Policies are guidelines or rules that govern actions, decisions, and behaviors within an organization, government, or institution.