Farouk Gumel - The Role of Agriculture in the Economic Development of Nigeria
                     The Role of 
Agriculture in the 
Economic 
Development of 
Nigeria
Farouk Gumel, Nigeria
 Nigeria, like many Africa nations, is an 
agrarian nation. Contrary to the general 
perception that it is an oil and gas 
country, the majority of Nigerians in 
reality earn their living through the 
agricultural and food value chain. This 
should not be a surprise.
 A country with over 200 million people 
will surely have a large appetite. In this 
article, we are going to briefly look at 
how agriculture is one of the biggest 
reasons why Nigeria is the world’s 27th 
largest economy, and why investing in 
this sector will propel Nigeria  to greater 
heights globally.
Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with the highest 
population on the continent. It was ranked the 27th 
The largest economy globally and is among the largest 
producers of oil and gas in the world. The whole world 
Truth knows Nigeria for its Oil while ignoring its other assets – 
arable land, water, solid minerals and ofcourse, its young 
About and talented population. 
Nigeria Oil is considered by many as the biggest contributing factor to the Nigerian economy, and to some extent, 
n GDP they are right. Oil reserves in Nigeria amount to 35 billion barrels and oil still remains the largest earner for 
the Nigerian government. Most of the oil is exported in 
crude form. There is little value addition locally this 
means only a few jobs are created locally.
So if oil is such a big factor in the Nigerian economy, then why is agriculture the 
main focus of this article?Statistically, agricultureis a key factor of the Nigerian 
GDP. In 2019, agriculture accounted for nearly 22% of Nigeria’s GDP and 
employs more than one-third of the population. 
We have 14 million cattle produced in our countryand are the largest producer 
of cassava (59.4 million tons) and yam (47.5 million tons) plus major exporters 
of cocoa,  cashew, sesame and beans to mention a few. For local consumption, 
Nigeria produces maize, sorghum, rice, millet and wheat. 
It has a vibrant and fast growing poultry and fisheries industry. There have also 
been significant investments in vegetable oil refining in recent years. It is worth 
noting that as the oil and gas and many other sectors fell into recession in 
recent years, Nigeria’s agriculture sector continued to grow and create jobs.
Just to be clear, Oil is and will remain a huge factor in 
What the GDP of Nigeria, but to create a better and more 
inclusive economy, Nigeria needs to focus on its secret 
can be weapon,  agriculture which supports more than 70 
million people in Nigeria, In the last 5 years,  the 
Done in Nigerian Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria 
have pushed aggressive fiscal and monetary policies 
the aimed at harnessing Nigeria's agricultural potentials. 
Future? The policies, which target both small scale farmers and large scale corporates, have resulted in significant 
investments in Nigeria’s agricultural value chain.
TGI Group, through its numerous subsidiaries such as WACOT Ltd is one of the many 
private sector companies to participate in this latest push by Nigeria to put 
Agriculture to work. WACOT Ltd has started up projects of new rice mills across 
Nigeria and employs over 9,000 workers both in blue and white-collar jobs. 
Its new rice mill which is speculated to be the turning point in Nigerian agriculture 
and will provide farming the boost it needs can store up to 120,000 tonnes of rice 
paddy and has the storage facility to keep that much raw produce for 6 months in 
advanced silos. 
Farouk Gumel, executive director of Tropical General Investment (TGI) Group has 
rightly stated in an article that TGI/WACOT Ltd projects are made to take advantage 
of the new government policy direction and that the new WACOT Ltd rice mill will 
bring with it a lot of opportunities for the people of Nigeria. Farouk Gumel also stated 
that WACOT is planning to build two more rice mills in the coming years.
IN ADDITION TO WACOT, MANY OTHER WELL KNOWN BRANDS ARE 
PARTICIPATING IN NIGERIA’S RICE REVOLUTION. FOR EXAMPLE, 
DANGOTE INDUSTRIES, INTENDS TO SET UP 10 RICE MILLS IN THE 
COMING YEARS. ALIKO DANGOTE, AFRICA’S RICHEST MAN ANNOUNCED 
HE IS INVESTING OVER $4 BILLION IN FARMING AND FOOD PROCESSING 
IN NIGERIA. OLAM IN A RECENT PRESS RELEASE ALSO ANNOUNCED ITS 
PLANS TO MAKE MORE INVESTMENTS IN FOOD PRODUCTION AND 
PROCESSINGACROSS NIGERIA. AS THESE BIG NAMES AND MANY MORE 
CONTINUE TO INVEST IN FOOD PRODUCTION, NIGERIA’S AGRICULTURAL 
SECTOR MAY FINALLY DELIVER ITS TRUE POTENTIAL.