Effects Of Trade Liberalisation Policy On Nigerian Agricultural Exports

This paper examines the effects of trade liberalization on Agricultural exports in Nigeria. It was observed that the policy had tremendous effects on the level and value of exports in agricultural sub-sector. A regression analysis relating the total value of agricultural produce and the aggregated domestic prices, and other relevant parameters of four selected export commodities indicated that these four commodities (cocoa, palm kernel, palm oil and groundnut) accounted for between 65 and 87 percent of the variability in income from the foreign sector of Nigeria agricultural commodity trade between 1990 and 1998. High value of co-efficient of elasticity further confirmed that export trade in these four commodities would dominate the Nigerian agricultural export trade for years to come. To measure gross earnings from agricultural export trade, therefore, it becomes necessary for policy makers to formulate policies that will eventually enhance investment in cocoa, groundnut and palm produce as this will lead to increased output and values of these crops in this country if well implemented. Key words: trade liberalization, policy, agricultural exports Journal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol.4(1) 2004: 13-28