ABSTRACT
President Shehu Shagari farms 400 acres of ancestral land at his home village of Shagari. The soil is unfruitful and water is scarce. So he knows the problems of farming at first hand. Food, in the shape of a sheaf of corn, has pride of place in the emblem of his party, the NPN, and is the first topic dealt with in the party’s manifesto. In all his speeches about his party’s programme before and during the elections, and in all his speeches about economic matters, the President has stressed that increased output from the farms is essential, not only to improve the standard of living of farmers and townsmen alike, but to make Nigeria truly independent. Even Nigeria’s industries suffer because the farms can no longer supply them with the materials they were established to use. Yet to reverse the downward trend of Nigeria’s agriculture, still dominated by small peasant farms in which experts now see greater possibilities than in big government projects, is slow and complex. Higher prices for their produce, of all kinds, easier credit, subsidised fertilisers and the like, better feeder roads for access to markets, guaranteed markets and storage for supplies, are among the farmers’ needs.
