Poverty: Place of Agricultural Development on Economic Growth of Nigeria

No society attains development where poverty and economic insecurity prevail. This article examines poverty with the place of agricultural development on the economic growth of Nigeria. It aims at examining the importance of agricultural growth on sustainable development while also looking at the barriers to effective economic growth through agriculture. Agriculture has always been a major boost in Nigeria’s economy from inception until the shift from agriculture to oil production which has brought about the declining trend of growth in Nigeria. The study adopted a survey as the design for the study. The Cluster sampling technique was employed in this study. 200 respondents carefully arrived at on referrals from farming associations in Kwara state made up the sample size for the study. The study gathered data from the study population through questionnaires and such data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency tables so as to reach conclusions to the issues being addressed. Findings from the study reveal that majority of the respondents have no tertiary education and thus practice traditional methods of farming. It also brought forth that agriculture, as practiced by the majority of the respondents, is a vital tool to reducing unemployment but not able to reduce poverty. It sees lack of support from the government as a blow to the interest of the youth in Agriculture It, therefore, suggests that for the economic growth of Nigeria to be repositioned, the nature and manner in which agriculture is practiced should be reviewed and government intervention should be intensified