ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA: AN ARDL APPROACH

Abstract

This paper empirically analyzed the impact of agriculture on economic growth in Nigeria using ARDL technique. The technique has been applied to analyze the data to examine both the short-run and long-run relationship that exist between the variable over the period 1980-2017. The result of the ARDL Bound test shows the existence of the long-run positive significant relationship between agricultural sector output, government spending on agriculture, Foreign direct investment and economic growth while unemployment and inflation rate has a negative significant relationship with economic growth in Nigeria during the period under review. The findings of the study further revealed that over the years the agricultural sector has been neglected and as such its contribution to GDP has been dwindling since the discovery of crude oil. Therefore, the study recommends that government should provide incentives to farmers in form of loan and also subsidized the cost of farm inputs, they should ensure effective utilization of both monetary and fiscal policy tools to regulate the economy to control inflation and job opportunities should be created for the jobless youths.