Name : Lufi Karisma R

Country : Nigeria
Committee : United Nation of Environment Program
Topic : Zero Hunger; Combat Poverty That Caused Hunger by Exploring Any Potential
Sector Exist Within the Country

Nigeria is a country located on the most eastern part of West Africa. This gives Nigeria an
advantageous over trade, because Nigeria essentially become a link for economic activity
between west and central Africa. The country is also the hub and end points of a numerous trans-
African Roadways that cross the entire continent such as the West African Coastal Highway,
Lagos Mombasa Highway and Trans Saharan Highway.
Nigeria is often referred to as the "Giant of Africa", due to its large population and economy.
With 186 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh
most populous country in the world. As of 2015 Nigeria is the world's 20th largest economy,
worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power
parity respectively. It overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy in 2014. The
2019 debt-to-GDP ratio was 15 percent. Nigeria is considered to be an emerging market by the
World Bank. However, Nigeria currently has a low HDI (Human Development Index), ranking
152nd in the world. Although Nigeria has a high GDP and low debt-to-GDP ratio, there is a huge
gaps in wealth distribution. The average GDP per capita hovers around $6000/year, but about
half of the population, around 86.9 million people falls within the poverty line. In October 2015,
the World Bank updated the international poverty line, a global absolute minimum, to $1.90 a
day.
Nigeria is the largest petroleum and crude oil provider in Africa and 12th in the world. For over
78% of Nigeria’s export are consisted on the petroleum and energy sector. Which had polluted
the water system and caused insurrection groups in the south way. For agriculture sector it only
occupy 21.65% of the country’s total GDP in 2018, and about a third of the population work on
agriculture. Nigeria's agriculture is based on its varied geography. It is composed of savannas,
coastal wetlands, and tropical forests. The central part of the country contains plateaus and hills,
while the southern part is composed of lowlands. The northern area is drier than the central and
southern areas, because it is nearer to the equator. Nigeria has very good agricultural land that
allows for a diverse crop and livestock production. The dry, northern savanna is suitable for
growing sorghum, millet, maize, groundnuts and cotton, and is also the principal livestock-
raising area. In addition to that, Nigeria's multiple vegetation zones, plentiful rain, surface water,
underground water resources, and moderate climatic extremes allow for production of diverse
food and cash crops. The main cash crops are cocoa, cotton, groundnuts, oil palm, and rubber.
Rice is grown in the low-lying and seasonally flooded areas as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Nigeria
https://qz.com/africa/1313380/nigerias-has-the-highest-rate-of-extreme-poverty-globally/
https://africacheck.org/reports/nigerias-economy-services-drive-gdp-but-oil-still-dominates-exports/
Though Nigeria has great agriculture land but has been unable to keep up with the population
growth. Therefore, Nigeria has gone from being an important exporter of crops to involuntarily
having to import crops and food. Being an impoverished country also has direct affects on the
crops themselves. More than 40% of Nigeria's goods are spoiled after their harvest because of
the inadequate supply of electricity which is crucial for storing and processing crops.
Nowadays Nigeria are starting to move away from a focus on crude oil as a primary revenue
source, because from 2014 the price for crude oil have been declining and unstable. One of
which is to focus on agriculture sector and make it into primary revenue source. In order to assist
Nigeria government to build and facilitate better agriculture sector, here are several
recommendation that I propose:
1. Nigeria has a large economy and considered rich country compared to the rest of other
countries on Africa. Yet there are still some issues within the government such as
postponed election in February 2019. This could cause bad impact for business as well as
foreign investor. UNEP should encourage Nigeria government to be fair and transparent.
Without the support from its government, it would be hard for both Nigeria’s citizen and
foreign support to invest more on agriculture sector.
2. One of the main constraints of the agricultural sector, is that it has a slow response to
technology adoption when it comes to agriculture, low productivity, low return of
investment and rural poverty. To overcome this I suggest UNEP to support education for
the farmer in regards to productivity enhancement and technological adoption, as well as
encourage the investor both internal and external to invest more on technological
advancement.
3. There is still a lot problems need to be faced by agriculture in Nigeria, such as its poor
marketing technique, lack of good infrastructure, unstable prices, agricultural labor,
storage and processing technique. Here I suggest UNEP to cooperate with many entities
and organization inside the nation, such as FMN Group.

https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart
Ufiobor, K. A. (2017). Nigeria Agriculture and Sustainability: Problems and Solutions. Vaasa: University
of applied science Novia.