Situations changed radically with the oil boom of the 1970s, as the discovery of huge oil and gas reserves in the strategically considerable sub-Saharan country turned its fortunes overnight. The windfall transformed Nigeria's agricultural landscape into a gigantic oil field crisscrossed by more than 7,000 km of pipelines connecting 6,000 oil wells, two refineries, many circulation stations and export terminals. The gigantic financial investments in the sector paid off, with unofficial price quotes recommending Abuja raked in more than $600 billion in petrodollars in the last decade alone.

Unfortunately, the fascination with non-renewables over all other sectors of the economy ultimately turned Nigeria's benefit into a bane. Newly found wealth generated political instability and massive corruption in federal government circles, and the country was rent asunder by years of violent civil war and successive military coups. Farming was among the very first casualties of the oil routine, and by the 1990s, cultivation accounted for simply 5% of GDP. Farming modernisation and assistance continued to remain low on the list of national top priorities as vast stretches of rural Nigeria slowly plunged into poverty and food deficiency. Deforestation, soil disintegration and commercial contamination even more hastened the down-spiral of farming to the point where it wound up as a subsistence activity.

The fall of Nigerian agriculture accompanied the collapse of its macroeconomic and human advancement indicators. With income circulation concentrated on a couple of urban pockets, the majority of rural Nigeria was left reeling under huge hardship, joblessness and food shortages. A widening urban-rural divide sparked social unrest and mass migration into towns and cities. Arranged urban criminal activity became as genuine a security risk as militancy in the Niger Delta region. Nigeria plunged to the bottom in world economic rankings and Africa's most populous country got the dissatisfied distinction of having more polyester material than half (54%) of its 148 million individuals living in abject hardship. The World Bank coined the term "Nigerian Paradox" particularly to explain the distinct condition of severe underdevelopment and hardship in a nation overflowing with resources and capacity. The country was ranked 80th in a 2007 UNDP poverty study covering 108 countries.

The transition to democratic civilian rule at the end of the last century led the way for an enthusiastic programme of economic reform and restructuring. Abuja's seriousness for inclusive growth was much in evidence in the adoption of an ambitious plan created to reverse trends and boost a stagnating economy. The Vision 2020 file adopted under previous president O Obsanjo lays out broad specifications for sustainable advancement with the particular objective of instating Nigeria as a worldwide economic superpower in a time-bound manner. The 2020 objectives remain in addition to Nigeria's dedication to the UN Millennial Statement of 2000 that proposes universal fundamental human rights by 2015.

The realisation of these allied and intertwined objectives depends completely on Abuja's ability to bring about inclusive development by means of an entrepreneurial revolution, while at the same time fixing huge infrastructural lacks and administrative abnormalities. Economies typically begin broadening with an initial agricultural transformation: The case of Nigeria however calls for agriculture to be part of a bigger enterprise transformation that effectively leverages the country's comprehensive resources and human capital.

The complexity of problems involved here is reflected in the truth that the National Hardship Removal Programme of 2001 identifies agriculture and rural advancement as its primary area of interest. The truth that all advancement needs to begin from the bottom-up can not be overemphasised in the context of Nigeria, where a farming boom can make sure not simply food supply and exports but also offer industrial basic materials and a market for items.

Agricultural expansion is vital to financial success across Western Africa, considering the region's debilitating poverty line. A 2003 conference organised by NEPAD (New Collaboration for Africa's Advancement) in South Africa strongly urged the promotion of cassava cultivation as a hardship removal tool across the continent. The recommendation is based on a strategy that focuses on markets, private sector participation and research study to drive a pan-African cassava effort. What was once a rural staple and famine-reserve food has actually ended up being a rewarding cash crop!

The NEPAD initiative has strong relevance for Nigeria, the world's largest cassava producer. With its large rural population and comprehensive farmlands, the country boasts unique chances of changing the humble cassava to an industrial basic material for both domestic and international markets. There is a growing and well-justified belief that the crop can change rural economies, stimulate fast financial and commercial development and assist disadvantaged communities. While production grew progressively between 1980 and 2002 from 10,000 MT to over 35,000 MT, there is scope for significant additional boost by bringing more land under cassava cultivation. Nigeria needs to take the lead not only in developing much better production, collecting and processing innovations, but also in discovering brand-new usages and markets for what is undoubtedly a wonder crop. Nigeria stands to make giant strides towards inclusive and sustainable advancement merely through the smart and judicious promo of cassava farming.

The following are a few of the most immediate requirements for an effective transformation in Nigerian farming:

o Active promotion and facility of agro-based industries that create work, sustain local food requirements and encourage exports.

o Effective steps to modernise and diversify the farming economy as a means of upholding entrepreneurial growth in supplementary sectors.

o Organization of a tariff system that promotes local fruit and vegetables versus cheaper imports, together with the elimination of institutional barriers against farming success.

o Aids on technically sophisticated farm equipment and practices that help enhance efficiency with no negative environmental adverse effects.

o An umbrella hardship alleviation program developed specifically to promote agrarian reforms while all at once enhancing the lifestyle in rural neighborhoods.

o Boosted access to agricultural enterprise loans through a network of regulated lending institutions understanding to farming truths.

o Adult education programs created to assist Nigerian farmers update to locally pertinent but contemporary methods of cultivation, marketing and circulation.

o Encouragement of both public and private sector farming research study aimed at remedying technological restraints dealt with by local farming communities.

If Nigeria's farming capacity is huge, it is partially since more than 90% of its 91 million hectares of overall acreage is arable. While soil fertility is typically estimated on the lower side, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicts medium to high yields across the country with optimum utilisation of resources. Integrated with Nigeria's substantial rural population generally involved in farming, this projection translates to gigantic potential customers in terms of farming efficiency and, by extension, economic renewal. For a nation emerging out of a distressed past and struggling to achieve social, political and economic stability, the perfects of agricultural and entrepreneurial revolution hold essential. Because they are likewise inextricably linked in the Nigerian context, the country's future position on the world economic phase depends literally on the bounty of its harvest.