PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS FACING CATTLE RANCHING SYSTEM IN NIGERIA

INTRODUCTION

The extensive movement of animals in search of pastures and water is known as “PASTORALISM”. Pastoralism, as it relates to open grazing in Nigeria, has become very controversial. This highly divisive subject follows years of deadly ethnic clashes between herdsmen and local farmers, resulting in thousands of deaths.

 

The predominant and widely known rearing cattle method in Nigeria is the nomadic approach, where herds of cattle are free to roam the country, including on farmlands, searching for pasture and water. In recent times, this approach has resulted in issues relating to cattle rustling, destruction and damage of cultivated farmlands, communal clashes between herders and farmers with consequent losses of lives and properties – generally leading to low yield and productivity in the industry.

In exploiting the pastoral agro-ecosystem, cattle ranching, an intensive form of pastoralism, supports controlled grazing. This changes pastoralism’s mobility nature where grazing of available pasture is limitless.

Ranching involves separating an area of land, including various structures, principally for raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat, milk, wool and other livestock products. This practice exposes cattle to paddock grazing with improved varieties of forages and fodders all year round and modern livestock management practices such as feedlot fattening, artificial insemination and others. Cattle ranching may be a solution to address the growing crisis threatening the national security of Nigeria.

 

The practice of cattle ranching in some areas across Nigeria is an improvement over the traditional cattle (livestock) management system that supports open cattle grazing. removal and conflicts over natural resources access. Also, controlled grazing contributes significantly to addressing these challenges and supports the effective management of environmental and natural resources.

 

In the long run, ranching may be a more sustainable form of pastoralism. However, a sudden switch may be difficult to implement due to the current lack of a consensus between Nigeria’s Federal Government and affected north-central and southern states’ governments.

 

Even though some states have already enacted an anti-open grazing law, many states in Nigeria are yet to address ongoing issues/tensions triggered by pastoralism. This may be because open grazing and nomadic cattle grazing practice has been known to nomadic pastoralists for centuries.

 

In conclusion, Nigeria offers a massive opportunity in the livestock industry, occupying the 14th position in the world with an estimated 20 million herds of cattle compared to Brazil, India and China – the top three nations with the highest herds of cattle in the world with 212,189 and 114 million herds of cattle, respectively.

Background of the study

A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep.

It also changes the common property character of the pastoralist land where all land is open for pastures without any individual ownership. Ranching is now the dominant system of ruminant livestock production in North America, Australia and parts of South America. This is because the advantages of cattle ranching and it importance cannot be over emphasize Some European systems could also be described as ranching, though enclosures are often small and animals are frequently given supplements in the field (Ibid). In countries like United States, (Ibid), communal grazing pastoralism was prevalent in the 19th century, but now the grazing systems are fully enclosed (Ibid) From 1990 to 2003, the cattle herd in the Northern part of the country grew by 140% from 26.6 million to 64 million heads. Increasing demand and the sector’s advantages in the region suggest that ranching will continue to grow in the region. Nevertheless, the growth of extensive ranching in the region is worrying especially because of increased deforestation. Scientific and modern economic intervention into pastoralism has generally targeted the mobility and communal grazing characteristics of the system which results into sedentarized and most likely the enclosed, ranching system. This intervention has implication that the pastoralist ecosystem is a limited and valuable resource. The traditional pastoralist perception is contrary to this implication, and considers and wishes to consider that pastoral land is essentially vast wilderness with no instituted limitation of use (no use limits except the availability of pastures). This obviously contradicts most intervention outlook. Even with most prominent advocates for promotion and improvement of pastoralist resource exploitation strategy, the baseline seems somewhere to be based on sedentarization or predictable location prior to other proposed measures like nutritional and veterinary assistance for livestock, services such as education (schools) and health; and setting up emergency grazing areas [Ibid]. There has been extensive scholarly analysis of the livelihood and sustainability of pastoralism as a way of life of a significant proportion of the human population. Much criticism exists arguing that mobility of large herds of livestock is stressful to the environment as it would cause extensive removal of vegetation. Repeated uncontrolled grazing often ends up into bare land where vegetation is completely removed. Due to livestock trampling topsoil of an area usually becomes much pulverized while the immediate subsoil beneath becomes severely compacted. Pulverized soil is prone to extensive loss of soil through wind erosion while when it rains sheet erosion sweeps away very easily most of the pulverized soil. The surface run-off becomes much enhanced by the compacted soil condition. Therefore, while rainfall would be stimulant for vegetation re-growth, because of extensive vegetation removal and compaction the rainfall instead becomes an enhancer of bareness of the soil after washing away all the soil that would support vegetation re-growth. In the Sahel in Africa, it has been reported that vegetation removal by livestock in the area is believed to have increased soil surface albedo to the extent of causing reduction of rainfall and rapid desertification. The worst thing about the unlimited mobility is that it can extend its impact beyond limits. Another criticism on pastoralism is centered on the system’s tendency against limited use rights of pastureland In this context all pastureland is communal and open to limitless grazing. Since communal use of pasturelands prevents any sense of ownership of the land, no individual pastoralist can think of expansion of his activities within the locality in which he is existing at any particular time. At the same time the pastoralist cannot intuit any idea of intensification because under communal ownership there is no ground on which this intensification can be exercised. Under the communal setup, for example, a pastoralist cannot think of possibility of substituting some of the livestock for more pasture land. This is the dilemma of the communal land tenure system of traditional pastoralism. In his much referred “Tragedy of the commons”, criticizes very categorically the communal grazing characteristic of pastoralism and insists privatization as a way to correct imbalances of the pastoralist practice. In his article he described how common property resources shared by pastoralists eventually become over-used and ruined. He argued that the pastoralist land use strategy is unstable and a cause of environmental degradation. Earlier more than a century ago, also criticized pastoralism and argued observing that as far as common grazing land is concerned there is everything against it. He asserted that where there is communal grazing, every peasant in the village would tend to maximize the opportunity within the same limited area, with the result that grazing lands become always overstocked, never given rest, and usually become little more than exercise grounds for cattle (Ibid). Facts about this are difficult to totally refute even though some more recent literature elaborate contrary opinion and argue for a more interdisciplinary apprehension.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

When ranching was introduced, the economic contribution of the livestock was the major consideration. This consideration relegated the multiple functions and non-economic uses of livestock, which might be more important to the Fulani. Ranching capitalized on enhanced production output, but overlooked the potential use of animals as self-reproducing wealth, symbol of prestige, medium of social exchange, and insurance policy (Cisse 1980; and Schneider 1981). A major policy mistake was that of failing to understand that traditional pastoralism was an important source of food and employment on a continuous basis to most of the household members (Sandford 1982; and Cossins 1983). It is against this backdrop that the researcher intends to investigate the problem and prospect of cattle ranching in Nigeria

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main the objective of the study is to ascertain Food insecurity in Nigeria and it effects: the issue of cattle ranching in osun state. To aid the successful completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;

1.  to examine whether ranching systen will end communal/ethnic clashes between farmers and herdsmen
2. to examine whether ranching system will Increasing yield in cattle/livestock production
3. to eaxamine whether rancing will help in Less risk of disease transmission
4. establish whether raching system will help  in National Security
5. to examine the impact of ranching towards the Effective management of environmental resources

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to the house committee on agriculture and federal ministry of agriculture as the study seek to enumerate the numerous benefit of cattle ranching over open grazing as this will help in policy formation, the study will also be of importance to the security operative as the findings of the study will help them strategize to curb the menace of herdsmen farmers conflict in Benue state, the study will also be useful to researchers who intend to embark on a study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point to further studies. Finally, the study will be of great importance to reporters, academia’s, students, teachers and the general public as the study will add to the pool of existing literature and also contribute to bank of knowledge in the subject matter.

Definition of The Terms

Conflict: is a psychic struggle between opposing or incompatible impulses, desires, or tendencies in order words, conflict means to come into collision or disagreement be it contradictory, at variance or in opposition.

Security: is the protection of a person, building, organization or country against threat such as crime or attacks by either external or internal factor.

Insecurity: the state of being open to danger or threat i.e lack of protection.

National: relating to or characteristic of a nation, common to a whole nation or typical of the people or customs of a particular country or nation

Farmers: a person who own and manage a farm or a person engaged in agriculture, raising living.

Fulani herdsmen:  are nomadic or semi nomadicfulani people whose primary occupation is raising livestock. Fulani herdsmen or Fulani pastoralists are nomadic or semi-nomadic Fulani people whose primary occupation is raising livestock. The Fulani herdsmen are largely located in the Sahel and semi-arid parts of West Africa, but due to relatively recent changes in climate patterns, many herdsmen have moved further south into the savannah and tropical forest belt of West Africa. The herdsmen are found in countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon. In Senegal they inhabit northeastern Ferlo and the southeastern part of the country. In many of these countries the Fula often constitute a minority group

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Abstract

This study examined the rural-urban interdependence on fuel wood in Anambra State, Nigeria using cross-sectional data. The study used purposive and random sampling techniques for the selection of 120 gatherers that constituted respondents for the study. The study employed descriptive and relevant inferential statistics for data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that out of the 14 indicators of the importance of forest examined in the study, the respondents were aware of 11 as importance of forest to people in the study area. The linear regression analysis with an R² of 0.702 showed that about 70% of the total variations in the income from fuel wood were caused by the specified independent variables in the model. On rural-urban interdependence on forest, (79%) of money and income related benefits flow from urban to rural areas; (88%) of benefits relating to innovative ideas on forestry management and conservation flow from urban to rural areas, about (68%) of forest related market information spread from urban areas to the people in rural areas while about (55%) of awareness of the importance of forest and its related products flow from the urban to rural. About (78%) of benefits in the form of forest related job opportunities spread from rural to urban areas. Using a factor loading of 0.30, the factors that constrain rural-urban flow of fuel wood in the area were:  socio-financial; infrastructural/institutional; and distributive factors. The result of the probit model with an R² of 0.892 indicated that about (89%) of the total variations in the decision of the respondents to either invest in forest development or not were caused by the specified independent variables in the model. Based on the above findings, it was recommended that government should ensure the provision of good feeder and major road network between rural and urban areas in the state, that for smooth flow of fuel wood, marketing channels should be encouraged in order to hasten distribution of the fuel wood among others

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background Information

Majority of Nigeria’s poor live in the rural areas and depend directly or indirectly on agriculture and its related activities while owning or controlling few physical productive assets (Amaechina and Eboh, 2006). In other words, the above statement shows that Agriculture (farming, forestry, fishing etc), in Nigeria, is practiced mostly by the poor in the rural areas. Consequently, it is from the rural areas that the products of forest such as fuel wood are shifted to the urban areas, where they are highly demanded. In return, the urban areas, offer some developmental services to the rural areas, and this cooperation creates multipronged linkages between the two areas. For instance, Garrett (2005), stated that rural and urban areas share many degrees of interactions; rural areas provide critical consumption goods for urban consumers, such as food, energy, low-cost land and labour, and unique experiences. Urban areas constitute the end market for rural production; provide professional services; offer diverse job opportunities; and generate resources for public and private investment in rural areas.

It is now widely recognized that there exists various forms of complementarities between the urban and the rural areas in every country. The various ways these two areas complement each other’s activities have created several linkages between them and these linkages have now been known as the rural-urban interdependence (Okpala, 2003).

The rural-urban interdependence especially on fuel wood portrays the linkages that exist between the two areas by critically considering the importance of fuel wood and the roles they play in supporting lives as well as regional development. Fuel wood, otherwise called firewood is simply wood cut for fuel. It is renewable energy source usually obtained from forest (FAO, 2010). According to World Energy Council (1999) fuel wood is primarily for cooking which accounts for about 60 percent of endorsed energy consumption of households in developing countries. For instance, in low income countries, the consumption of fuel wood energy by households is typically ten times the total consumption of commercial energies for other purposes (Denis, 1987).

Arnold (1998), noted that fuel wood is gotten from the forest. Forest includes all resources that can produce forest products. Products like timber, fuel wood, charcoal, food, fruits, nuts, pharmaceutics, etc; and forest products services like watershed, erosion control and prevention, soil stabilization etc. Forest, which include all resources that can produce forest products, namely, woodland, scrubland, bush fallow, farm-bush, and trees on farms, as well as ecosystem dominated by trees, provide household with income, ensure food security, reduce the vulnerability of shocks and adversities and increase their well being (Arnold, 1998).

Heltberg and Bacon (2003) noted that fetching fuel wood from forest for sales provide considerable amount of employment to people to meet both economic and energy needs of households in rural and urban areas. It allows quick returns on investments and is often practiced in conjunction with agricultural activities.

Fuel wood represents a major item in the energy budget of the people of developing countries especially the rural communities (Akujor, 1988). For instance, about 40 percent of the rural population of Anambra state is involved in profitable gathering of fuel wood for sustainable livelihood in the state. (Anambra State Government, 2007). The environmental and economic importance of fuel wood for household energy source initiate rural-urban cooperation, which create various complementary activities that support regional development.

The various complementarities existing between rural and urban areas give rise to the development of rural–urban linkage, and the new perspective referred to as the rural–urban linkage development approach, is increasingly becoming the accepted approach (Okpala, 2003). Rural-urban linkage generally refers to the growing flow of public and private capital, people (migration and commuting) and goods (trade) between urban and rural areas. It is important to add to these the flow of ideas, information and diffusion of innovation on the management of the forest for sustainable provision of the resources and durable services for the benefit of both the rural and urban areas.

The issues included in the summary of UN-HABITAT (2003) resolutions, show that the old orthodoxy of a discrete and dichotomous approach to urban development as distinct from rural development no longer accords with reality, considering the complementary functions and flows of people, capital, goods and services, employment, information and technology between the two areas. This means that the consideration of rural development as completely distinct from urban development is no longer valid because it is now widely recognized that there exists an economic, social, and environmental interdependence between two areas. There is, therefore, the need for a balanced and mutually supportive approach to the development of the two areas. Also, there is a need to promote rural-urban linkage development approach, which posits urban and rural areas as the two ends of the human settlements continuum (Okpala, 2003). Thus, current discussion on the rural dimension of sustainable urban development should emphasize policies that are supportive of urbanization while addressing the challenge of increasing investment in the physical, economic and social infrastructure that are necessary to improve rural productivity and access to market (Tacoli, 1998).

Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization (Kubisch, 2007). As rapid urbanization of developing countries is inevitable, particularly amidst the phenomenon of globalization, the capital of cities and towns should be strengthened to enable them productively absorb excess rural population and to better manage urban development, while rural development should be based on policies that improve economic and social conditions of rural population and the need for the rural areas to contribute to  national economic growth through increased agricultural and non-agricultural productivity (Holland, 1991).

1.2             Problem Statement

Agriculture in the rural area is faced with a lot of challenges. Poor rural infrastructural problems such as poor transportation network, poor funding, poor policy formulation, poor marketing system etc, hinder the attainment of sustainable agriculture in the rural areas. Atkinson (2004), stated that an improved rural infrastructure is a necessary condition for improving productivity in rural areas and also for enhancing access to agricultural produce by both urban areas and the export market.

Poor and inadequate rural infrastructure alongside other challenges negatively affects rural productivity in the country and therefore hampers the flow of forest products such as fuel wood. The inability of fuel wood for cooking energy to meet the inter-regional demand, and also the failure of the people to recognize the environmental importance and economic relevance associated with the flow of fuel wood, could affect regional linkages, and could lead to a decline in opportunities and measures that can improve both the rural and urban livelihoods and environments (FAO, 1997).

A wide-ranging literature review, Snoxell (2005), concludes that there is no body of research specially focused on linkages between communities, nor is there a prevailing analytical framework for understanding these linkages, but if well understood and managed, the linkages between rural and urban areas could be the basis for a balanced regional development, which is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

A good number of studies have been carried out on forest, forestry and forest products, most of them are especially on agroforestry-benefits, economics and environmental degradation (Amaechina and Eboh 2006; Eboh and Achike, 1997, Agada, 2009), none of these studies has really looked into the rural-urban interdependence dimension on fuel wood for. This study therefore, aims to fill these gaps in knowledge.

1.3       Objective of the Study

The broad objective of the study is to assess rural-urban interdependence on fuel wood in Anambra state.

The specific objectives are to:

1. describe the level of awareness of the importance of forest in both rural and urban areas of the state;
2. identify the socio-economic factors that influence the output of the fuel wood gatherers in the study area;

• describe rural-urban interdependence in terms of flow of fuel wood between the two areas;

1. identify the factors that constrain the flow of fuel wood between the rural and urban areas;
2. examine the socio-economic factors that influence the decision of the people to invest in forest development;
3. proffer recommendations based on the findings.

 

 

 

 

 

1.4       Research Hypotheses.

Based on the stated objectives of the study, the following null hypotheses were tested:

1. Socio-economic factors of the gatherers have no significant influence on the output of forest products.
2. Socioeconomic factors do not have significant influence on the decision of the people to invest in forest development.
   • Justification of the Study:

The understanding of rural-urban linkages matters because it provides the basis for measures that can improve both urban and rural livelihoods and environments. Ignoring them means that important opportunities will be lost and in many cases it will also contribute to poor and marginal people’s hardship (Parr, 1990). There are urban initiatives that can better lives in the rural areas, and help support regional development. However, with a narrow urban centric approach, such initiatives are unlikely to be given the priority they desire (Richardson, 1979).

Knowledge of the linkages between the rural and urban economies would aid policymakers in addressing interrelated problems, such as declining economic opportunity in rural regions, which is often combined with losses in quality of life in urban areas with high rates of economic growth (Parr, 1990). The findings of this study will be useful by the ministry of agriculture in making related policies to enhance agricultural development and also the flow of its products between the rural and urban areas; the research findings will also be useful to NGOs that are involved in agricultural and regional development. It will guide both the government agencies and NGOs to formulate policies that will help the rural and urban areas to understand how their economic fortunes are interrelated and how certain policy proposals directed to the rural economy have feedback effects on the urban economy.

Finally, researchers who are interested in the area of interdependence and linkages between rural and urban areas will be guided to be more focused based on the information that will be provided by the study

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TRENDS IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA, 1991-2013

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the impact of the extension services of Green River Project (GRP) on fish farmers in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Specifically, it sought to ascertain fishery technologies received by GRP fish farmers; determine adoption of fish farming technologies by fish farmers; determine impact of extension services of GRP on socioeconomic condition of the fish farmers as at the year 2012; ascertain farmers’ perceived constraints to adoption of GRP fish farming technologies; ascertain constraints to effective performance of extension services of GRP and determine perceived strategies to improve effectiveness of the extension services of GRP. The study was carried out in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 fish farmers and 20 GRP personnel. Data were collected through the use of questionnaire and interview schedule. Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean statistic, percentage) were used to present data while t-test, regression, chi-square and factor analysis with varimax rotation were used to analyze the data. Mean age of GRP fish farmers and personnel were 50 and 41.70 years, respectively. Majority (76.7% of fish farmers and 65% of GRP personnel) of respondents were male. Also majority (77.5%) of the fish farmers and all (100%) the GRP personnel were married. The respondents were literates. Majority (70.0) of the fish farmers also engaged in other income generating activities. Average household size of the fish farmers and GRP personnel were 6.0 and 4.0 persons, respectively. Average years of participation in GRP for the fish farmers was 8.00 years while the mean years of working with GRP of the personnel was 12.65years. The farmers’ average number of contact with GRP was 4.0 times per month. GRP personnel used different types of teaching methods such as the use of contact group (100%), T&V system (90%) and SPAT (85.0%). Majority (86.7%) of the fish farmers belonged to social organisations. Majority of respondents received most of the technologies disseminated. Adoption index of fish farm management technologies, feeding techniques, fish culture management technique, water quantity and quality management techniques and liming techniques were 0.79, 0.77, 0.77, 0.88 and 0.52 respectively. Extension services of GRP had impact on quantity of fingerlings stocked (t=6.398; p≤ 0.05) and quantity of fishes harvested (t=6.279; p≤ 0.05); income from fishes produced (t=7.390; p≤ 0.05) among others. Constraints to adoption of GRP technologies were grouped into technology dissemination constraints; project implementation and sustainability constraints among others. Some socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents (age (years), years spent in formal education and years of participation in GRP) influenced the adoption of the fish farming technologies. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected for these variables. There was significant difference between the average quantities of fish stocked and average quantity of fish harvested by the fish farmers in Imo and Rivers States after participation in GRP hence the null hypothesis was rejected. The null hypothesis was rejected while the alternative hypothesis was accepted. It further revealed that there was no significant difference between the average income earned by the fish farmers in Imo and Rivers States after participation in GRP and the null hypothesis was accepted. Implementation constraints to effective performance of extension services of GRP according to GRP personnel included: climatic uncertainties and flooding (M= 1.55) and delay in input supply (M=1.20). It was recommended that there is need to increase youth involvement in the project (90.0%), increase farmers’ participation in decision making (90.0%) and increase the number of trained extension personnel (85.0%).

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Title page                                                                                                                    ii

Certification                                                                                                                iii

Dedication                                                                                                                  iv

Acknowledgement                                                                                                      v

Abstract                                                                                                                      vi

Table of contents                                                                                                        vii

List of Tables                                                                                                              ix

List of Figures                                                                                                             x

List of Pictures                                                                                                            xi

 

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

• Background information 1
• Problem statement 4
• Purpose of the study 7
• Hypotheses of the study 7
• Significance of the study 7

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.      Concept of agricultural projects                                                                      9

2.2.      Overview of fishery projects in Nigeria                                                          11

2.3.      Improved fish farming activities and technologies                                         13

2.4.      Overview of agricultural extension services in Nigeria                                  19

2.5.      The Green River Project                                                                                 25

2.6.      Concept of adoption of innovations                                                               28

2.7.      Concept of evaluation                                                                                     35

2.8.      Theories/models of evaluation                                                                        40

2.9.      Conceptual framework                                                                                   53

CHAPTER THREE:              METHODOLOGY

3.1       Study area                                                                                                       54

3.2       Population and sampling procedure                                                                59

3.3       Instrument for data collection                                                                                    60

3.4       Measurement of variables                                                                              61

3.5       Data Analysis                                                                                                  63

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1       Socio-economic characteristics of GRP fish farmers and

GRP personnel                                                                                               65

4.2:      Fish farming technologies received by the GRP fish farmers                        76

4.3:      Adoption of GRP fish farming technologies by fish farmers                         80

4.4       Impact of extension services of GRP on socioeconomic condition

of the   fish farmers                                                                                         85

4.5       Constraints to adoption of fish farming technologies disseminated by

GRP                                                                                                                97

4.6       Implementation constraints to effective performance of extension

services of GRP                                                                                              100

4.7:      Perceived strategies to enhancing the effectiveness of the extension

services                                                                                                            102

4.8       Testing of Hypothesis (Socio-economic characteristics of

farmers influencing adoption of fish farming technologies)                           104

4.9       Testing of differences in socioeconomic conditions of GRP fish

farmers in Rivers and Imo States                                                                    108

CHAPTER FIVE:    Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1       Summary                                                                                                         110

5.2       Conclusion                                                                                                      112

5.3       Recommendation                                                                                           114

REFERENCES                                                                                            115

APPENDIX                                                                                                   124

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. Background information

The development of state ministry of agriculture in Nigeria changed in political structure after independence. The three regions structure in 1960 gave way to four regions in1963 and this equally gave way to states creation from 1967 up to 1996 (Ayoola, 2010).  The roles of the ministry of agriculture include the following: – Organizing of short duration seminars and workshops to farmers.  Providing farmers credit, subsidies and other incentives to boost total output in the various special programmes undertaken by the state government, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other support programmes. Conduct market surveys to determine current prices of agricultural inputs and products. Carry out the technical implementation of all agricultural loan schemes. Pest control services. Overseeing the activities of all agriculture related Parastatals and Companies (www.riverstate.gov.ng).

Agriculture in Nigeria has witnessed drastic changes in government programmes ranging from administration, funding, manpower and learning skills, and infrastructural facilities to creation of research institutes (Madukwe, 2008). The first post colonial development era of 1962-1968 period emphasized the introduction of more modern agricultural methods through farm settlements, co-operative plantations, supply of improved farm implements and a greatly expanded agricultural extension service. Some specialized development schemes initiated during this period include: the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP), 1972; The World Bank-funded Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) 1975; River Basin and Rural Development Authorities (RBDA) 1976; Operation Feed the Nation, 1976; and Green Revolution Programme, 1980; among others (Jibowo & Ajayi, 2011).

Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) was a bilateral agreement between the World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1975. ADP idea is an offshoot of the concept of integrated agricultural and rural development (Jibowo, 2005). The objective is to improve the levels of living and welfare of farmers. It started as an enclave in some states to a multi-stage ADP. The ADP is the implementation organ of the state ministries of agriculture and natural resources (Jibowo and Ajayi, 2011). ADP programmes consist of adaptive research, extension transfer, input supply and rural infrastructure.

Operation feed the Nation (OFN) (1975) was designed to mobilize the general public into participating in agricultural production using mass and individual extension methods (Iwuchukwu and Igbokwe, 2012). Some of these strategies included subsidized production inputs, increased bank credit to farmers, establishment of commodity boards and fixing of attractive prices for agricultural produce (Daneji, 2011). Its main aim was to greatly reduce the cost of living particularly in the urban areas with everybody being able to wholly or partly feed himself (Adebayo and Okuneye, 2011).

River Basin and Rural Development Authorities (RBDA) was launched in 1976. Primarily, the schemes were to harness the country’s water resources by providing employment opportunities through intensified crop, livestock and fisheries production with the hope of improving the standard of living of the rural population (Williams, 1981). Their functions were to facilitate land development and ensure efficient water resource management. Even though the project has succeeded several regimes, irrigated land in Nigeria stood at 0.7% (Adebayo and Okuneye, 2011)

The Directorate of Foods, Road and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) was established in 1987 with a mandate to open the rural areas through the construction of access roads, and provision of basic amenities of modern living but due to the following reasons, the programme was not sustainable: The programme was inevitable because it has long been realized according to Otubanjo (1992) that the economic future of Nigeria depends on the development of rural areas. Therefore, the potentials of rural areas were seen to be both immediate and long term (Daneji, 2011). The idea of opening up of rural areas with feeder roads and integrating it with other parts of the country provided basis for food that could be evacuated to enhance the quantity of food and raw materials consumption. During the period of 1980-1988, 30,000km roads were constructed from the targeted 60,000km estimated by DFFRI. The poor quality of infrastructures provided by the directorate probably due to mismanagement of fund made the impact of the programme almost insignificant. However, the directorate had been criticized in the past for lack of proper focus and programme accountability (Idachaba, 1988).

National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) (1999) mode of operation is tailored towards (subsidized) credit to farmers. The programme consists of four schemes namely, youth empowerment scheme which involves capacity acquisition, mandatory attachment, and credit delivery; Rural infrastructures development scheme which involves the provision of portable water, rural electrification, transportation and communication development; Social welfare Services Scheme which is involved with qualitative education, primary health care, farmers empowerment and provision of social services, provision of agricultural input and credit delivery to rural farmers; and Natural Resources Development and Conservation Scheme which contains programmes for environmental protection through conservation of land and space, development of agricultural resources, solid minerals and waters resources.

National Fadama Development programme (1999) is aimed at increasing income of beneficiaries by at least 20%. It is a major instrument for achieving the government’s poverty reduction objective in rural areas of Nigeria. The programme empowers the association with resources, training, and technical assistance support to properly manage and control the resources for their own development.

Apart from those initiated by federal government and implemented in the state, they were some programmes and projects initiated by Anambra state government which include; Grain Production Agency 1991; Poverty Alleviation Programme 2002; Volunteer Service Agency (VSA) 1991; Anambra State Tractor Hiring Company (ASTRAC) 1991; Small Holder Management Unit 1991; State Agricultural Credit Scheme (SACS) 1991; State Loan Implementation Committee (SIC) 2006; National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) 2007. However, the scope of activities in various programmes mentioned among others, are similarly implemented in areas of policies, funding, manpower training, recruitment and that forms the essence of the problem of this research.

1.2       Problem statement

Since the creation of Anambra state in 1991, the State Ministry of Agriculture has gone through series of changes in the areas of policy initiatives, staffing, manpower training, funding of programmes (Anambra SEEDS document, n.d). However, some of the changes did not only come from the State but as a result of possible initiatives from interventions/developmental programme introduced by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture through collaboration with donor agencies such as Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank etc.

To be effective, the Ministry of Agriculture should be dynamic in enhancing the capacity for administering the increasing number of programme. To be dynamic the Ministry must learn from its past programmes. There have been changes in the programmes, policy initiatives, and manpower development of the State Ministry of Agriculture. Chronicling these changes are very important in articulating future policies and programmes as they provide vital information for learning. The question that arose was: what are the activities of the ministries over the past 10 years in terms of policies, programmes, staff recruitment, funding, manpower, capacity development and linkages with other actors?

1.3       Purpose of the study

The objective of the study was to examine the trends in the activities of the Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture and rural development. Specifically, the study sought to:

1. identify the trends in policies and programmes in the State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;
2. describe the trends in manpower recruitment;
3. identify trends in funding of the ministry;
4. identify the trends in manpower development in the Ministry; and
5. identify trends in the linkage of the Ministry with other stakeholders.

1.4       Significance of the study

The findings of this research would assist the government and other political office holders appreciate the trend of activities in the ministry and the need for corrective actions. The result may raise interest for private investment and NGOs on the need and areas for support and participation.

The Ministry of Agriculture which is an arm of the government would use this research finding in understanding their linkage strength and the lapses in manpower and capacity development and take adequate measures to make correction. Improvements in the various aspects of the Ministry resulting from the finding will enhance the capacity of the ministry to effectively meet its mandates. This will positively impact on the farmers and farming activities in the state. This study may stimulate further investigation in other agencies within agriculture, ministry of agriculture in other states and other ministries outside agriculture.

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