AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

The study examined the impact of agricultural output on economic growth in Nigeria. GDP being the dependent variable was used as a proxy for economic growth while crop, livestock, forestry, and fishery were the independent variables. Annual times series data of the variables covering the period between 1986-2020 were sourced from CBN and National Bureau for Statistics. The study carried out pre[1]diagnostic tests including the Unit root test to test the stationarity of the data and the cointegration test to confirm the long-run relationship between variables. Error correction model (ECM) was used in the data analysis. Findings from the study revealed that there exists a long-run relationship between the variables. The results of the error correction model (ECM) revealed that the coefficient of livestock and fishery production were both positive with values of 5.0526 and 67.26 respectively and significant at a 5% level with the p-value 0.0432 and 0.0292. Crop production and forestry had a negative and insignificant impact on Nigeria's economic growth with the coefficient of -4.593964, and -2.625762 and p-value of 0.6432, and 0.6432, respectively. The study, therefore, recommended that the Nigerian government should review its policies on forestry and crop production so that they can have an impact on Nigeria's economic growth, and encourage more production of livestock and fisheries to have more input., Government should establish and fund more research institutes to improve seedlings to increase the productivity of crops