List and discuss briefly eight factors that militate against the developement of commercial agriculture in Nigeria.
Explanation
Eight factors that militate against the development of agricukature in Nigeria are; (i) Inadequate Land (ii) Poor storaage and processing facilities (iii) Inadequate finance (iv) Inadequate transportation network (v) Lack of farm inputs (vi) Lack of basic amenities (vii) inadequate agricultural education and extension services (viii) poor marketing system.
(1) Inadequate Land (i) increase in population reduces the size of farmlands. (ii) The type of rand tenure systems Nigeria prevents farmers from acquiring land, (iii) Deforestation contributes to lack of land
(2) Poor storage and processing facilities: (i) Excess produce are wasted due to lack of storage facilities (iii) Storage faciities are expensive to purchase. (iii) improper storage and processing reduce the quantity and quality of the produce.
(3) Inadequate finance: (i) Peasant farmers have no access to loan or credit facilities, (iii) High interest rate charge by banks discourage borrowing. (di) Poor farmers who manage to get loans divert them to other purposes
(4) Inadequate transportation: (i) most farms in Nigeria are not accessible by roads. (ii) Lack of sufficient vehicle hinders movement of food from rural to urban areas, (iii) High cost of transportation is a problem to commercial farming" (Iv) Some of the existing roads in rural areas are in very bad condition.
(5) Lack of farm input: (i) Farm inputs like tools, fertilizers are inadequate. (ii) Farm inputs are of inferior quality. (iii) Farm inputs even wh-en available are not supplied to farmers at the right time,
(6) Lack of basic amenities; Basic amenities like, electricity, pipe borne water and hospitals are tacking in rural areas
(7) Inadequate agricultural education and extension services: (i) Majority of the farmers cannot read and 'write (ii) They do not know how to apply modern farm inputs (iii) Extension officers are inadequate.
(8) Poor marketing system: (i) There are no organised marketing channels for produce. (ii) There is lack of propel ,pricing for agrlc produce. (iii) The activities of middlemen worsen the marketing of produce.