International Agencies and the Quest for Food Security in Nigeria, 1970-2015

Nigeria's search for a way out of her food crises since 1970 has attracted the attention of a number of international agencies of which the key ones are the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Trade Organisation(WTO), World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA). The work evaluates the specific responses of these agencies to the quest for food security in Nigeria. These revolve around projects/programmes single-handedly funded by each agency, apart from provision of improved seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, infrastructure and other technical inputs which farmers are urged to adopt. They also include projects implemented through collaboration between two or more agencies where joint efforts prove to be more pragmatic than projects and strategies sponsored by individual organisations. The source materials are derived from government gazettes and the available records of a number of these agencies in addition to their online documents and other secondary source materials. Some facts and figures are also obtained from practical fieldwork based on visits to some local farm projects that received credit facilities provided by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with International agencies. The study reveals that though their activities portend to be an asset to food production in the country, the operation of the major ones were marred with a number of lapses such that on the average, assessment of the benefit accruing from their intervention still remains an issue of controversy.