Nigeria: Agriculture proves to be a pathway to the sustainable development of Akwa Ibom

There are efforts to produce cassava, rice, cocoa, yam, citrus fruits, etc, as well as tomato, cucumber and lettuce. Akwa Ibom State is endowed with numerous natural resources, the most prominent among which is oil. The state is Nigeria's largest oil producer, accounting for over 30 per cent of the country's oil - a fact that is known to all. What may perhaps not be known by many is the fact that Akwa Ibom is basically an agricultural state whose people have always depended on farming for existence, though at subsistent level. In fact, before oil replaced agriculture as Nigeria's economic mainstay, the state, then part of the Eastern Region, was a major contributor of palm produce which the country was the world's number one producer. About five decades of neglect of agriculture at the national level adversely affected the agricultural fortunes of the people of Akwa Ibom, as it did the entire country. Now, with the reality of a post-oil era staring the country in the face against ...