RURAL POPULATION ATTENUATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

The Nigeria’s rural population is marked by continuous decline as a result of rural-urban migration. Since agriculture is more concentrated in the rural areas, this could have a dampening effect on food production. Ascertaining the influence of rural population growth on food production in Nigeria was therefore the objective of the study. The study was conducted with the aid of data from 1961 to 2018 which were sorted out from the World Bank and analysed using the Johhansen cointegration test, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Dynamic OLS, and Fully Modified OLS. Our findings portrayed that a long-run link exists concerning food production and rural population growth in Nigeria. From the Dynamic OLS which stands to be our lead model, it was realized that the influence of rural population on food production has been negative and significant. This negative effect is linked to the continuous rural-urban migration that has left agriculture into the hands of the few elderly. To curb this, the paper suggested that making agriculture attractive through aggressive mechanisation and provision of inputs, rural population will be able to accelerate food production and ensure food sufficiency in the country.