Drivers of Federal Government Expenditure on Agriculture

Abstract

The slow rate of Nigeria's development outcomes, bordering on food insecurity, poverty, inequality unemployment, deplorable infrastructure, low diversification of the economy and slow structural transformation of the agricultural sector spurred renewed interest in the drivers of public agricultural investment in Nigeria by Nigeria's Agricultural Policy Stakeholders. This study therefore analysed the trend of the Federal Government agricultural expenditure in Nigeria and ascertained the drivers of agricultural investment outlay using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The scope of the study spans 35 years (1981-2015). Descriptive statistics, pictorial analysis and co-integration approach were employed. The outcome of the study revealed that expenditure patterns fluctuated, rose and became fairly premeditated and consistent with the return of civilian administration, probably due to the priority attention to agriculture and sustained economic management. Also, past agriculture expenditures were observed to be long run driver of current agriculture expenditure, thus affirming the garbage can or incrementalism approach (probabilistic strategy) to federal government agriculture expenditure in Nigeria. The study recommended sustenance of democratic tenets, given the expenditure priority focus on agriculture and innovative expenditure programming based on needs and results, rather than random approach to resource allocation and expenditure programming.