Agricultural intensification and input use in sub-Saharan Africa: a perspective overview with emphasis on Nigeria

Sub-Saharan Africa has been projected to lead the world in population growth in the next few decades. The negative corollary to this projection is that if care is not taken, the region will domicile a more than proportionate percent of the world's malnourished population. Th~ question therefore is whether SSA should surrender to fate or brace up to the challenge of reversing this ominous trend. Herculean as the task may appear, the right approach is to take an inward look, assess trends and weaknesses and chart the path of progress. This paper is therefore premised on the proven fact that land use intensification is central to agricultural sector growth considering the region's high population densities and lack of expansion frontiers. The paper therefore undertakes a brief oterview of agricultural sector. performance; assesses input.use with reference to land, fertilizer, water and tractors, and makes recommendations as appropriate. Prominent among the recommendations is that SS,A countries_ like Nigeria must brace up to the challenge of land reform to ensure increased access of smallholders. It is also recommended that public policy initfatives should be directed towards raising efficiency in input and output market to reduce cost and increase incendves for production. Further still, a review of the fertilizer sector to increase access and pricing efficiency in the short and medium term, and to build capacity for domestic production, is considered very imperative.