AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIAN RURAL AREA: A STUDY OF EDO STATE

Abstract

The wealth which built modern Nigeria whether in the era of dominance of agricultural commodities, or
petroleum, was derived from the rural areas. Given the relative importance of rural areas in Nigeria, as
the major economic base, this study examines theof agricultural intervention policies/programmes on
rural development in Edo State. The study adoptedmixed method using questionnaire andoral
interviews. The data were analyzed using simple percentage statistical tools. Thefinding reveals that
the exclusion of the rural farmers from participating in the agricultural intervention programmes is
among other factors that contributed to the failure of the policy/programmes vis-à-vis
underdevelopment of rural areas. Consequently, the study recommended that Government should
leapfrog rural development philosophy from the present abyss to a front burner position, by
constitutionalizing an extra-ministerial agency, such as the National Population Commission and Federal
Civil Service Commission, among others, with specific responsibility of rural development in Nigeria.