The Relationship between Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Economic Development

In my last blog post we discussed the back ground and the rationale behind the economic diversification quest of Nigeria as the result of the uncontrollable and incessant fall of the crude oil at the international market, other reason include the fall in the value of Naira resulting from several factors ranging from high level of importation to monoculture economy structure.

In this post we shall be focusing on discussing reviewing important concepts, theoretical and empirical literatures relating to the series of blog post that have been made and will be made subsequently. We shall particularly be discussing Sustainable Economic Development, Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Economic Development.

To have full comprehension of the concept of sustainable economic development, it will be imperative to first define, distinguish and understand what economic development is in relation to economic growth because the two concepts are often erroneously used interchangeably.

Economic Growth can be defined as an increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services in specified period of time. Economic growth can be measured in real terms as an increase in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services or in nominal terms measured without including inflation. 

Economic growth may occur in one or few sectors of the economy; it entails an increase in the amount of goods and services produced per head and/or per capita consumption of the citizens of a country over a period of time. It is often measured per year; economic growth tells little about how the economic returns to factors of production in the form of wages, rent, profit and interest on capital are distributed among individuals, households and firms in the society.

Development taken in isolation is many sided process encompassing progressive changes in social, technological, cultural, political, educational and economic advancement. Economic development on the other hand is sustained, concerted actions of policy makers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic well-being of a specific area. Economic development involves development of human capital, increasing the literacy ratio, improvement in infrastructural facilities, improvement of health and safety and others areas that aims at increasing the general welfare of the citizens. Summarily, Economic Development can be said to be the quantitative and qualitative changes in the economy.

Distinguishing between the two concepts, economic growth is a pre-requisite to economic development. Assuming we have a household in an economy that ekes their livelihood from an integrated agricultural farm, economic growth will bring business opportunities to the country and the effects will spill over to this particular farm, the agriculture sector and other sectors of the economy. The farmer will consequently increase its profit which will in turn be used to pay for the profit generated (cost of production), improve access to health care, clothing, shelter, education, food and the general living standard of the family, if this effect is replicated in every household overall economic development is said to have been achieved.

Brundtland Commission, (1987) defined sustainable development as the ability to make development sustainable—to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 

 

Sustainable economic development can therefore be defined from the above insights as achieving and maintaining the initially economically developed economy over a long period of time, without possibility of future reversal. It is in other words, a practice of economic structural change in which the utilization of resources, the trend of investments, the direction of technological development, and established changes are made unswerving with the present as well as future requirements in mind.

The concept of sustainable agriculture in relation to sustainable economic       development as used in the research is a reaction to the deterioration in the quality of the natural resource base associated with contemporary agriculture. The concept of agriculture sustainability has prompted major adjustments in conventional agriculture to make it more environmentally, socially and economically viable.

The capability of existing resources and technologies to satisfy the demands of the growing population for food and other agricultural commodities remains uncertain. Agriculture has to meet the above challenge, mainly by increasing production on land already in use and by avoiding further encroachment on land that is only marginally suitable for cultivation.

In other to understand the concept of sustainable agriculture, it will be important to have extensive understanding of the concept of agriculture. This attempt is justified in view of its large coverage, its varied application as a science, practice, business, and for other purposes including legal matters, new technologies and specialized fields are continuously added into its fold.

Several scholars have defined the concept of agriculture from various perspectives. Agriculture according to Rimando, (2004) is the systematic raising of useful plants and livestock under the management of man. Agriculture was also defined as the deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain (Rubenstein, 2003).

Labor Code of the Philippines, (Undated) defined agriculture to including farming in all branches and, among other things, includes the cultivation and tillage of soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural and horticultural commodities, the raising of livestock or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, but does not include the manufacturing or processing of sugar, coconuts, abaca, tobacco, pineapple or other farm products.

It can be seen from the above definitions that agriculture as a concept is more complex than often assumed. It encompasses system of assemblage of components, integrated by some forms of interaction and interdependence, controlled within a prescribed boundary to achieve a specified agricultural objective on behalf of the beneficiaries of the system.

Sustainable agriculture therefore means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that over the long term will satisfy human food and fiber requirements, improve environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy hinges on, make the most efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls, sustain the economic viability of farm operations and, enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

The primary goals of sustainable agriculture include, providing a more profitable farm income, promoting environmental stewardship by protecting and improving soil quality, reducing dependence on non-renewable resources such as fuel and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and minimizing adverse impacts on safety, wildlife, water quality and other environmental resource, and promoting stable, prosperous farm families and communities.

Todaro and Smith (2003) looked at Lewis theory of development, and reported that the underdeveloped economy consisted of two sectors. These sectors are the traditional agricultural sector characterized by zero marginal labour productivity and the modern industrial sector. Rostow, (1960) in his historical approach to the process of economic growth distinguishes five stages of economic growth to include: Traditional society, Pre-conditions for take-off, Take–off, Drive to maturity and Age of high mass-consumption.

From this historical approach it is said that agriculture plays an important role in the first three stages. Indeed, more often than not, as in the case with Nigeria, agricultural activities are usually concentrated in the less-developed rural areas where there is a critical need for rural transformation, redistribution, poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.

Reynolds, (1975) opined that agricultural development can promote economic development of the underdeveloped countries in distinct ways: by witnessing the supply of food available for domestic consumption and referring the labour needed for industrial development, enlarging the site of the domestic market for the manufacturing sector, increasing the supply of domestic savings, and providing the foreign exchange earned by agricultural exports.

In their contributions, Omawalea and Rogrigues, (1979) were of the views that most developing countries’ agriculture sectors have been assigned an important role in national development. To them, agriculture is seen in these countries as a means of reducing dependence on certain import, containing food price increases, earning foreign exchange, absorbing many new entrants to the labour market and increasing farm income at times of severe unemployment and rural poverty.

Johnson, (1970) agreed with the above views that the appraisal of the agriculture sector‘s contributions or role in the national economy can be made using the primary criteria namely, the share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Product, the proportion of the population engaged in agriculture, the proportion of the nation‘s responses devoted or employed in agricultural production and finally, the contribution of the agriculture sector to foreign trade.

We shall in my next blog post be discussing and relating the concept of Economic Development, Measure of Economic Welfare (Mew) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and finally, we shall be reviewing the performance of the Agriculture sector in Nigeria with up to date statistics and economic indicators.

Cite as follows: Dan-Abu Michael Ngbede, (2016). Appraisal of the Role of Cattle, Poultry, Piggery and Fishery Sub-Sectors to Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria: 1982-2014. A research project submitted to the department of Economics, University of Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Science (B. Sc) in Economics.