There are certain trends associated in crop production both nationally and globally. Therefore, let’s have a good look at the trends in crop production both nationally and globally.

Here are certain Trends in Crop Production Nationally and Globally including Fodder Production:

1. Cereals

World cereal production in 1999 is forecast at 1870 million tons (including milled rice). While on the supply side, the estimates are becoming firmer, the demand-related issues have yet to be determined.

Global cereal utilization in crop production 1999/2000 is forecast to rise only slightly, just less than one percent. Overall, the growth in direct food consumption of cereals is expected to keep pace with population increase.

Nigeria for instance with a total cereal production of 18 million tones representing only 1% of the world cereal as reported by the food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO) year book of 2002 and presented in tab.1.1 and fig.1.1.

Table 1.1 Cereal production in Nigeria 1990-2000 in 000, metric tones

Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Fonio	65	72	78	81	93	108	125	127	131	134	133
Maize	5104	5142	5223	5309	5426	5472	4273	4200	3884	3965	3999
Millet	4778	4560	4367	4850	5007	5107	5356	5487	5596	5603	5914
Rice Paddy	1208	1652	1664	1564	1714	1796	1784	2048	2044	2191	2199
Sorghum	4185	5538	5474	5605	5738	6095	6191	6589	6635	6678	6885
Wheat	60	50	30	14	15	20	23	25	49	50	52
Cereals Total	15400	17014	16836	17423	17993	18598	17752	18476	18339	18621	19182

Source FAO year book 2002

In sub-Saharan Africa, 1999 was another disappointing year in terms of agricultural output, as overall agricultural production lagged behind population growth rates for the third consecutive year.

Output increased by 2.1 percent in 1999, after increasing by 0.4 and 2.3 percent in 1997 and 1998, respectively. In Nigeria, production growth slowed from more than 4 percent in 1998 to slightly less than 3 percent.

The preliminary estimates for 2000 suggest no improvement in the sluggish performance of the last few years and overall agricultural production appears to have expanded by only 0.5 percent.

Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Exports-Qty Mt	3	270	0	56697	82600	76218	2000	44000	46757	46757
Exports-Val 1000$	2	98	0	3673	8550	8352	180	3960	4250	4250
Imports-Qty Mt	476920	813977	1073019	1712290	1178072	1022942	1259345	1882181	2132391	2226259
Imports-Val 1000$	113368	186010	233612	351818	229600	210274	287572	460602	473796	509115

(Source FAO year book 2002)

The steady rise in the imports and decline in export of cereal crops in Nigeria from 1990 to 2000 as is evidenced in tab. 1.2 and fig 1.2. These are direct indications that food crop production in the country is lagging behind the demand for demand for food.

The rapid increase in the Nigeria population (3.5%) annually which is considered among the highest in the world has necessitated the need to massively import food to feed the teaming population.

Agricultural production within the same period recorded a modest growth rate of 1.5%, but the growth is mostly associated with cassava production which is currently enjoying a boom.

This scenario of massive importation of cereals and sharp decline in export could be attributed not only to growth in population and stagnation of internal production levels but also on other equally important factors such as natural and socio-economic factors.

Natural factors in form of drought and flooding that affected the major crop producing areas of the country within the reported period. Drought which affected the Northern Savanna zone where the bulk of country’s cereals is produced, thereby, leads to shortages of major foodstuff which necessitated massive importation of cereals to supplement the shortfall.

The growth of poultry industry in the country also lead to increased demand for cereals to be used in the production of feeds, this triggered massive importation of maize to be processed into poultry feeds.

The shift in government policy that do not accord food production the priority it deserved in terms of adequate funding and supply of needed inputs to sustain the current production levels.

The fiscal and monetary effected food production especially cereals in the country by making importation of maize to be processed into poultry feeds.

Lack of stability in the farm prices and poor marketing system of major cereal crop in the country discourage farmers from making investment to produce more. These and many more socio-economic factors have contributed to the present scenario of massive food importation by Nigeria.

2. Cassava Production

Nigerian cassava production is by far the largest in the world; a third more than production in Brazil and almost double the production of Indonesia and Thailand.

Cassava production in other African countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda appears small in comparison to Nigeria’s substantial output.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome (FAO, 2004a) estimated 2002 cassava production in Nigeria to be approximately 34 million tons. The trend for cassava production reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria mirrored the FAO data until 1996 and thereafter it rises to the highest estimate of production at 37 million tons in 2000 (FMANR, 1997; Central Bank of Nigeria).

The third series provided by the Projects Coordinating Unit PCU (PCU, 2003) had the most conservative estimate of production at 28 million tons in 2002. PCU data collates state level data provided by the ADP offices in each state.

Comparing the output of various crops in Nigeria, cassava production ranks first, followed by yam production at 27 million tons in 2002, sorghum at 7 million tons, millet at 6 million tons and rice at 5 million tons (FAO, 2004a.)

Expansion of cassava production under crop production has been relatively steady since 1980 with an additional push between the years 1988 to 1992 owing to the release of improved IITA varieties.

Read Also: The Complete Classification of Crops

By zone, the North Central zone produced over 7 million tons of cassava a year between 1999 to 2002. south south produces over 6 less than 6 million tons a year. The North West and North East are small by comparison at 2 and 0.14 million tons respectively ( Table 1.3).

Table 1.3 Cassava Production by Nigeria geographical zones

2000-2002 (tons)

Regions	2000	2001	2002
South West	4 993 380	5 663 614	5 883 805
South South	6 268 114	6 533 944	6 321 674
South East	5 384 130	5 542 412	5 846 310
North West	2 435 211	2 395 543	2 340 000
North Central	7 116 920	7 243 970	7 405 640
North East	165 344	141 533	140 520
Total	26 363 099	27 521 016	27 938 049

On a per capital basis, North Central is the highest producing region at 720kg/per person in 2002, followed by South East (560kg), South South (470kg), South West (340kg), North West (100kg) and North East (10kg).

National per capital production of cassava is 320kg/per person. Benue and Kogi state in the North Central Zone are the hargest producers of cassava in the country, while Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta state dominate cassava production in the South South.

Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo dominate in the South West and Enugu and Imo dominate production in the South East. Kaduna state alone in the North West is comparable in output to many of the states in the Southern regions at almost 2 million tonnes a year. The production in the North East is currently very little.

Table 1.4 Ranking of Nigeria in the World production of some field crops in 2005

Commodity	Nigeria	World	Ranking in the world
Cassava	41,565.000 MT	208,559,340 MT	1
Yams	34,000.000 MT	44,276,130 MT	1
Cowpeas	2,815000 MT	22,880,290 MT	1
Melon seeds	451,000.000 MT	691,605.00 MT	1
Taro	5,068000 MT	11,538,705 MT	1
Citrus fruits	3,545, 841.00 MT	6,999,186 MT	1
Green Maize	4,779000 MT	9,216,770.00 MT	2
Millet	6,282000 MT	30,522,860 MT	2
Sorghum	8,028000 MT	59,153,380 MT	2
Okra	730,000 MT	5,357.927 MT	2
Groundnuts in shell	3,478.000 MT	37,763.330 MT	3
Sweet potatoes	3,205.000 MT	123,271.111 MT	3
Papaya	834,040.00 MT	6,666.540 MT	3
Cashew nuts	594,000. MT	2,864.270 MT	4
Cocoa beans	366,000 MT	3,924.770 MT	4
Ginger	110,000 MT	1,270.400 MT	4
Vegetables	4,285,000 MT	261,732.740 MT	5
Pineapple	976,920,000 MT	17,692.310 MT	6
Sesame seed	100,000 MT	3,322.080 MT	6

Source FAO year book 2005

According to FAO year book 2005, Nigeria account for more than 77% of world yam production as well as occupied first position in the world production of cassava, taro, citrus fruits, melon seeds and cowpeas. During the same year under review, Nigeria rank second in the world production of millet, sorghum, okra and green maize and came third in sweet potatoes, groundnuts, and papaya.

The tremendous rise in the status of food crop production in the country from the year 2002 up wards could be attributed to recent shift in government policy that favors massive food production program internally with the hope of attaining sustainable food security status and meet up with Millennium Development Goals of the country.

Constraints to Crop Production in Africa

Trends in Crop Production Nationally and Globally

Many factors have been cited as limiting the growth and development of crop production in tropical Africa. Here, we concern ourselves more with social, economic and political constraints.

1. Poverty

Poverty is indicated both by the few capital resources and the low cash incomes of African farming families. The small size of farm holdings (typically 1-5 ha.) represents very little collateral on a loan, and unless the family owns livestock there may be little prospect of raising money to buy equipment or meet emergencies.

Income from the sale of farm produce is typically inadequate to meet essential family expenses such as taxes, school fees, medicine, clothing and house hold items.

Rarely is enough left over for seed, fertilizer or chemicals, let alone for large capital items such as oxen, ploughs and water pumps. Thus, the key components of Green Revolution Technology (seed, fertilizer, pesticides) are not generally accessible.

2. Seed

This is partly due to poor performance of the seed service agency in terms of production, quality assurance, and distribution of improved seeds.

3. Agro-chemicals

The use of herbicide, insecticide and fungicides is minimal. Farmers generally lack spraying equipment and technical skills for the timely and effective application of pesticides, which if wrongly applied pose dangers to people, crops and wider environment.

It is often not recognized that decisions concerning what, when and how much to spray are very complex, and sufficient guidance is rarely available to the farmer. Products are often sold without proper recommendations for use and threshold levels of insects’ infestation are rarely defined.

The repeated application of the same chemicals may lead to rapid development of resistance to it. For this reasons, pesticides represent a risk to small-scale farmers.

4. Labour constraints

Labour constraints are particularly serious because of the low level of adoption of animal traction in the humid zones. The presence of tsetse fly is one major reason for this but often it is poverty that prevents farmers from buying and using oxen and ploughs.

Without animal traction, the area of land that can be cultivated by one adult is about 0.5 ha. Such small scale cultivation rarely provides a surplus of food or other crops for sale- a prerequisite for economic development.

The use of oxen allows several hectares to be ploughed and perhaps weeded, opening up the possibility of marketing surpluses to fund the purchase of further equipment, new seeds and other inputs.