Transforming Agribusiness in Nigeria for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction : Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities
Nigeria has for decades placed enormous emphasis on diversifying its economy beyond oil and into sectors such as agribusiness and manufacturing. Lack of progress on the diversification agenda could be blamed on weak implementation and misalignment of public spending, but it also reflects more pr...
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| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2022
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| Online Access: | https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/560731647405289627/transforming-agribusiness-in-nigeria-for-inclusive-recovery-jobs-creation-and-poverty-reduction-policy-reforms-and-investment-priorities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37132 |
| Summary: | Nigeria has for decades placed enormous emphasis on diversifying
its economy beyond oil and into sectors such as agribusiness and
manufacturing. Lack of progress on the diversification agenda could be
blamed on weak implementation and misalignment of public spending,
but it also reflects more profound underlying issues. For example,
declarations that any particular sector should drive diversification without
offering clarity on specific investment priorities and expected outcomes
will not persuade budget holders to allocate development resources.
The lack of clarity also deprives policy makers and practitioners of the
information, inspiration, and conviction to develop and execute sector
plans that could operationalize diversification.
Transforming Agribusiness in Nigeria for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs
Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities
aims to provide that clarity by illustrating the potential of the agribusiness
sector to accelerate inclusive growth, create jobs, and reduce poverty.
Building on an early finding that this sector provides the best prospects for
inclusive growth and more and better jobs, the book identifies the specific
agricultural value chains with the highest potential to create jobs, reduce
poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes. The findings demonstrate,
however, that the value chains with the most potential to pursue one policy
objective are not necessarily as effective for other objectives, clearly calling
for selectivity of value chains, depending on policy objectives.
The book also estimates the level of growth required to meet specific
jobs targets and finds that the growth burden is lower when on-farm and
off-farm segments of agribusiness grow in tandem and higher if either
segment stagnates. It concludes that a whole-of-agribusiness approach
that emphasizes coordinated investments between on-farm and off-farm
segments is needed to enable the sector to meet its potential in creating
jobs and generating inclusive growth.
With that whole-of-agribusiness approach in mind, the book next
highlights the complex set of factors affecting the performance of
agricultural value chains, distinguishing among issues that pertain to
upstream primary agriculture, those that affect downstream off-farm
agribusiness, and cross-cutting challenges. The agribusiness-enabling
environment takes center stage, focusing on identifying specific policy
reforms to effectively regulate seed development and quality control,
fertilizer quality control, warehouse receipts, agricultural trade, and land
reforms for responsible and inclusive agricultural investments. Finally,
the book identifies policy reforms and investment priorities to increase
competitiveness in the priority value chains for jobs creation, poverty
reduction, and nutrition enhancement. |
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