Agriculture is the major sector upon which the majority of Nigeria’s rural poor depend on for their
livelihood. Over 70 percent of the active labor force is employed in agriculture (World Bank
2007). The federal government of Nigeria (FGN) has identified agriculture as the key
development priority in its efforts to halve poverty by 2015 and diversify the economy away from
the oil sector.
The FGN is designing strategies to increase agricultural production, processing, and marketing.
Some of these are tied to the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy
(NEEDS), which the government designed in 2004 to reduce poverty and empower the poor.
Given the importance of agriculture in poverty reduction, NEEDS sets out a number of
qualitative performance targets that were to be achieved by 2007. These include 6 percent
annual growth in agricultural export and a drastic reduction in food import from 14.5 percent of
total imports to 5 percent. The “Seven Point Agenda” of the present administration specifies
“food security “as one of the priorities in the country’s “Medium Term Development Plan and
Vision 20: 2020.”
It is important to look at the evolution of Nigerian environmental policy before establishing its
links to agricultural policies. The illegal dumping of toxic waste at the Koko Port in the thenBendel
State (now Delta State) culminated in the creation of the Federal Environmental
Protection Agency (FEPA) through Decree 58 of 1988, as amended by Decree 59 of 1992. The
states then followed by creating agencies dealing with environmental protection. In 1999, all
units and departments in the different federal agencies that deal with the environment, including
FEPA, were pooled to form the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing, and Urban
Development (FMEH&UD;) in order to eliminate duplication. The Ministry is therefore made up of
following technical departments
? Environmental Assessment Department
? Erosion Flood Control and Coastal Zone Management Department
? Pollution Control and Environmental Health Department
? Forestry Department
? Drought and Desertification Amelioration Department.
It is important to note that the forestry and the erosion, flood control and coastal zone
management departments came out of the then ministry of agriculture and water resources.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR) formulates policy aimed at
developing the agricultural sector. Its stated goals are to foster an agricultural sector “with
reduced drudgery,” and a “small effective workforce ensuring national food security and meeting
the industrial raw material and export needs of the nation“ (Servicom Policy).