Production Shortfall Slows Agric Growth To 1.30% In Q3/23

Nigeria’s agricultural growth slowed to 1.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 due to declining farmers’ productivity, fresh data from the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.

On a year-on-year basis, growth in the sector slowed by 0.04 in the third quarter from 1.34 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.

The sector’s growth also slowed by 0.20 per cent quarter on quarter basis from 1.50 per cent in Q2.

The data also revealed that the sector’s contribution to GDP shrunk in Q3 2023 to 29.31 per cent, lower than its 29.67 per cent contribution in the corresponding period of 2022.

Read Also: 94.5m Nigerians To Be Faced With Insufficient Food Consumption By Year-End, Say FG

It would be recalled that AFEX in its 2023 wet season crop production report revealed that a decrease in production levels has seen the prices of most staple foods consumed in Nigeria, including rice, maize, soya bean, and sorghum among others, surge, with expectations that they will surge even higher.

The NBS said that in terms of share of the GDP, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022.

The agricultural sector comprises four sub-sectors: Crop Production, Livestock, Forestry, and Fishing. “Crop Production remained the major driver of the sector. This is evident as it accounts for 92.24 per cent of the overall nominal value of the sector in the third quarter of 2023,” said NBS.

Crop production, which is also the largest contributor to Nigeria’s GDP in real terms, grew by just 1.35 per cent compared to 1.82 per cent in Q2 2023.