A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR AND AGRICULTURAL SECTORS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The 1970s oil boom was accompanied, for most developing country exporters, by stagnating agricultural production, high rural emigration, and high levels of food imports. This paper evaluates the experiences of Indonesia, Mexico, and Nigeria. “Dutch disease” and other macroeconomic phenomena had important effects on agricultural performance, but equally, if not more, important were microeconomic factors, including: agricultural price policies; changing patterns of food demand based on distribution of petroleum income and public investment; structural characteristics of the agricultural sector (factor-intensity of different subsectors, labor availability and migration patterns, and geographical concentration of agricultural activity); and strategies of agricultural development and investment.