REVITALIZING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA: THE PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL (PRA) APPROACH REVISITED

Lambert Chidi Nwachukwu

Abstract


Agricultural productivity in Nigeria and its overall contribution to the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has continued to decline or stagnate with the discovery of oil as a major revenue earner for the nation. In other to stem this situation, successive regimes initiated and implemented various policies and programmes but they all failed to re-vitalize the agricultural sector. This paper is of the contention that promoting sustainable agriculture is crucial to Nigeria’s economic development. To achieve this, the paper posits that a viable, realistic and sustainable approach to re-vitalizing the agricultural sector must use the rural farmers and people as its building blocks. The paper therefore, recommend the Participatory Rural Approach (PRA) approach in which the farmers take an active and influential part in shaping decisions that will ultimately affect their lives by been involved in government policy formulation, adoption, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Keywords


Sustainability; Agriculture; Participatory Rural Appraisal Approach; Environment; Development

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References


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