DETERMINANTS AND GROWTH EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIA

This study investigates the determinants and growth effects of agricultural productivity in Nigeria within the period of 1981-2015. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Model was employed as the econometric method of estimation. The inference was drawn at 5% significant level. The result revealed that the agriculture expenditure had positive and significant impact on agricultural sector productivity in Nigeria. The findings showed that agricultural raw material, agricultural machinery and agricultural land have direct impact on agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Agricultural machinery and agricultural raw material were found to be statistically significant at 5% significance level while agricultural land was significant at 10%. The empirical results revealed that interest rate have an indirect impact on agriculture productivity. In addition, output growth had a positive and significant impact on agriculture productivity in Nigeria. The study concluded that, agricultural value chain contributed significantly to the diversification of the Nigerian economy. Therefore, government should increase agricultural productivity through budgetary allocation on rural infrastructures to aid logistics and consequently enhances economic growth and development.