| This study is an analysis of the process of agricultural development in Nigeria with a focus on the peasant-oriented World Bank-assisted Agricultural Development Program (ADP).;The study attempts to determine whether the program was effective in reversing the declining trend of the nation's agriculture. Effectiveness in this case is defined to mean the extent of the program's contribution to the attainment of the objective of national food security and the development of a local capacity to sustain agricultural growth.;The basic postulate of this dissertation is that the process of agricultural development in Nigeria is affected not only by the technical imperatives inherent in a technology-driven agricultural policy, but the behavior of the dominant subnational groups in their quest for capital accumulation through increased access to state resources.;Two levels of analysis are employed. The first involves an analysis of the plan, implementation, and impact of the program. The plan evaluation analyzes the specific elements of the ADP plan against the identified constraints of the agricultural sector. The implementation evaluation analyzes the performance of the program against its stated objectives. The impact analysis examines the program's contribution to food production, and its contribution to the development of a local capacity for sustainable agricultural growth.;The second involves a political analysis of the effects of the behavior of the dominant subnational groups on the outcome of the program, utilizing the theories of economic dependence, ethnic regionalism, and class struggle to determine the extent to which they have distorted government's efforts at reversing the decline in food production.;The political behavior of the dominant subnational groups and their quest for capital accumulation through access to state resources is shown to be characteristic of the nature of the class struggle over the allocation of scarce resources, which often is expressed in ethnic terms.;The dissertation concludes with a series of recommendations seen as necessary for Nigeria to engender a sustainable agricultural growth. |
