Agriculture, Food Security and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria: Cointegration and Granger Causality Approach
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Provision of sufficient food and elimination of abject poverty have usually been the
conventional benefits of agriculture to any society. Meanwhile, despite the fact that Nigeria is an
agrarian society, food insecurity and poverty have become the issues of concern among both scholars
and policymakers in the recent times. Against this backdrop, this study examined the nexus among
agriculture, food security and poverty reduction in Nigeria from 1990 to 2019 within the framework of
Cointegration and Granger Causality approach. Data was collected from the Statistical Bulletin of the
Central Bank of Nigeria and the World Development Indicators respectively. The following are the
major results that emanated from the study. A long run equilibrium convergence exists among
agricultural valued added, food production index and GDP per capita in Nigeria. Similarly, there is a
unidirectional causality which flows from food production index to poverty reduction in Nigeria. In the
same vein, one way causality flows from poverty reduction to agricultural value added in the country.
Consequently, this study makes the following recommendation for the policymakers in Nigeria, and
other African countries by extension, that agricultural value added and food production are the
important variables that cannot be undermined when poverty reduction occupies the central focus of
the policymakers. Therefore, any time these policymakers want to reduce poverty, policies that will
drive agricultural value added and food production should be embarked upon.
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Keywords
Agricultural value Added, Food Production Index, GDP per Capita, Nigeria