Nigerian agriculture is characterized by considerable regional and crop diversity. Analysis of this sector, particularly the food sub-sector, is fraught with serious data problems. However, the available statistics provide a broad overview of development in agriculture upon which we can make some broad generalizations about its role in economic development and structural change in Nigeria.
In the 1960s, the agricultural sector was the most important in terms of contributions to domestic production, employment and foreign exchange earnings. The situation remained almost the same three decades later with the exception that it is no longer the principal foreign exchange earner, a role now being played by oil.
The sector remained stagnant during the oil boom decade of the 1970s, and this accounted largely for the declining share of its contributions. The trend in the share of agriculture in the GDP shows a substantial variation and long-term decline from 60% in the early 1960s through 48.8% in the 1970s and 22.2% in the 1980s. Unstable and often inappropriate economic policies (of pricing, trade and exchange rate), the relative neglect of the sector and the negative impact of oil boom were also important factors responsible for the decline in its contributions.
On its diversity, Nigerian agriculture features tree and food crops, forestry, livestock and fisheries. In 1993 at 1984 constant factor cost, crops (the major source of food) accounted for about 30% of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), livestock about 5%, forestry and wildlife about 1.3% and fisheries accounted 1.2%.
Any nation that requires economic development must look inwards to identify areas where it has comparative advantage over other nations and seek to develop the identified areas.
Pepper (Capsicum sp.) is one of the most varied and widely used foods in the world. Pepper production has increased in recent years worldwide. That could be at least in part because of the high nutritional value of pepper. Nigeria is known to be one of the major producers of pepper in the world accounting for about 50% of the African production.
Pepper grown in Nigeria is in high demand because of its pungency and good flavor. It can readily be dried, ground and packaged for sale.
Pepper consumption in Nigeria accounts for 40 percent of the total vegetable consumed per day.
Popular local seasoning in Nigeria includes Pepper,Crayfish, Ogiri, Dawadawa, Iru, and Okpeyi. Because of their make-up, local seasonings are considered highly proteinous and medicinal. They can be used singly to cook special variety of soups or combined with bouillons. For instance, among the Igbos, Ogiri is used to cook bitter leaf soup while Iru or Dawadawa is used in cooking egusi soup.
Besides the local seasonings, there are several brands of food seasonings readily available in the open market, in-street shops, and supermarkets. They include Maggi, Knorr, Royco, Doyin, Jumbo, Suppy which are in cubes; Onga, Mixpy, Benny-the powdered seasoning or the Monosodium Glutamates (MSGs): A-one, Vedan, Aji-no-moto, Sasa, and Tasty King.
In Nigeria, seasoning belongs to the food and beverage sub-sector of the consumer market, which is estimated to worth about N 14.7 trillion.
The market for processed pepper is national. With a population of over 165 million people and an estimated national population growth rate of 5.7% per annum ,an average economic growth rate of 3.5% per annum in the past five {5} years, Nigeria has a large market for processed pepper.
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