Journal of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences (JEAS). Igwillo et al., 2024. 26(1&2):XX.
Open Access – Research Article
Social Enterprise as Panacea for Rural Farmers in South-Eastern Nigeria
U.C. Igwillo 1,*, A.C. Iheanacho 2, N. Danjuma 3, A.J. Leo 1, U.N. Chukwu 1, O.B. Igwillo 4
1 Bioresources Development and Documentation Department, Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
1 2Bioresources Department, Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
3 Research Policy, Planning and Statistics Department, Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
4Â Department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State, Nigeria
Abstract: The contribution of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to the national GDP has been on a steady decline in recent times. The contribution ranged from 21.09% – 26.46% in 2022 but declined from 26.46% to 21.66% in 2023 owing to reduced crop yields. Crop production growth rate decreased from 3.26% in 2019 to 1.5% in 2023. The agriculture sector’s poor performance has negatively impacted Nigeria’s food security. Endemic poverty, hunger, malnutrition, insufficient agricultural inputs, reduced crop yields, and inflation have proved to be cogs in the wheel of agricultural development of south-eastern Nigeria. Despite government inputs, investments, and economic policies, poverty is still predominant in rural communities, thereby breeding social vices and other societal ills which hinder national progress. Determinants of poverty such as age, education, access to extension services, farm size, annual income, head of household, the proportion of total household spending to food spending, accessibility of funds, household production and diversification, the structure of household production businesses, commercialization of agricultural produce including lack of affordable financial products, and lack of awareness of high-quality inputs, lack of technology and market data usage, and weak market connections through agricultural value chains, etc. are constraints to agricultural development of south-eastern Nigeria. To solve this problem, it is necessary to establish a social enterprise to provide subsidized agricultural inputs e.g. improved disease–resistant seeds and seedlings, fertilizers, compost/organic manure, herbicides, pesticides, biopesticides, including veterinary care, animal feeds, drugs, supplements, etc. as interventions to improve crop yield, enhance food security, reduce poverty and improve the social life of rural crop and livestock farmers in south-eastern Nigeria.
Keywords: Social enterprise, agricultural inputs, crop yield, rural farmers, poverty, south-eastern Nigeria.
*Corresponding author: Ugochukwu Clifford Igwillo, igwillo.ugochukwu@nnmda.gov.ngÂ
Cite this article as:
Igwillo, U.C. , A.C. Iheanacho, N. Danjuma, A.J. Leo, U.N. Chukwu and O.B. Igwillo. 2024. Social Enterprise as Panacea for Rural Farmers in South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of Environmental & Agricultural Sciences. 26 (1&2):Â [Abstract]Â [View Full–Text]Â [Citations].Â
Copyright © Igwillo et al., 2024  This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author and source are appropriately cited and credited.
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Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that they have no competing interests and there is no conflict of interest exists.
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