Abstract

NASC is an exercise designed to fill the existing data gap in the agricultural landscape in Nigeria. It is a comprehensive enumeration of all agricultural activities in the country, including crop production, fisheries, forestry, and livestock activities. The implementation of NASC was done in two phases, the first being the Listing Phase, and the second is the Sample Survey Phase. Under the first phase, enumerators visited all the selected Enumeration Areas (EAs) across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) and listed all the farming households in the selected enumeration areas and collected the required information. The scope of information collected under this phase includes demographic details of the holders, type of agricultural activity (crop production, fishery, poultry, or livestock), the type of produce or product (for example: rice, maize, sorghum, chicken, or cow), and the details of the contact persons. The listing exercise was conducted concurrently with the administration of a Community Questionnaire, to gather information about the general views of the communities on the agricultural and non-agricultural activities through focus group discussions.

The main objective of the listing exercise is to collect information on agricultural activities at household level in order to provide a comprehensive frame for agricultural surveys. The main objective of the community questionnaire is to obtain information about the perceptions of the community members on the agricultural and non-agricultural activities in the community.

Additional objectives of the overall NASC program include the following: · To provide data to help the government at different levels in formulating policies on agriculture aimed at attaining food security and poverty alleviation · To provide data for the proposed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebasing

Geographic coverage

Communities (in Enumerated Areas).

Analysis unit

Community

Universe

The population units are communities encompassing the designated enumeration areas, where household listing was performed.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

Focus group interviews were performed in communities overlapping with in the EAs selected for the extended listing operation. Accordingly, a focus group discussion in a total of 26,555 communities were undertaken to administer the community level questionnaire. It is important to note here that the results from the community survey are unweighted results and all the tables produced from the community level data are only from the 26,555 communities interviewed.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The NASC community listing questionnaire served as a meticulously designed instrument administered within every community selected to gather comprehensive data. It encompassed various aspects such as agricultural activities in the community, infrastructures, disaster, etc. The questionnaire was structured into the following sections:

• Identification of the community • Respondent Characteristics (Name, Sex, age) • Agricultural Activities in the Community • Disasters and Shocks • Community Infrastructure and Transportation • Community Organizations • Community Resources Management • Land Prices and Credit • Community Key Events • Labour

Cleaning operations

Data processing of the NASC household listing survey included checking for inconsistencies, incompleteness, and outliers. Data editing and cleaning was carried out electronically using the Stata software package. In some cases where data inconsistencies were found a call back to the household was carried out. A pre-analysis tabulation plan was developed and the final tables for publication were created using the Stata software package.

Nigeria Agricultural Production: Maize data was reported at 18,570.260 Tonne th in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 18,097.500 Tonne th for 2016. Nigeria Agricultural Production: Maize data is updated yearly, averaging 11,087.360 Tonne th from Jun 1995 (Median) to 2017, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18,570.260 Tonne th in 2017 and a record low of 4,547.660 Tonne th in 1997. Nigeria Agricultural Production: Maize data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.B003: Agricultural Production.

Nigeria's agricultural sector experienced a growth of 1.76 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to the previous quarter. However, in relation to the fourth quarter of the previous years under study, this represented a decline. Nonetheless, the overall growth rate reflects the ongoing importance of agriculture to Nigeria's economy, despite challenges facing the sector. Agriculture remains one of the crucial sources of employment and livelihood for many Nigerians. Employment trends in agriculture While agriculture continues to play a considerable role in Nigeria's economy, its share of total employment has been generally fluctuating recently. In 2023, the agricultural sector accounted for approximately 34 percent of the total employment. While this maintained the above 30 percent share observed since 2000, it represented a further decline. By extension, this trend suggests a slow but steady shift in the labor market, especially over the last three decades, with more workers moving into the services sector which now accounts for around 47.8 percent of total employment. The workforce transition from agriculture to services can be attributed mainly to rural-urban migration, technological advancement, and a rising informal sector. Land use and crop production Nigeria's agricultural landscape is characterized by extensive land use, with approximately 36.9 million hectares of arable land and 7.7 million hectares under permanent crops as of 2022. Crop production, a key component of the agricultural sector, saw growth of 1.2 percent in the third quarter of 2024. Roots and tubers are the main agricultural products grown in the country, besides cereals and oil crops. Overall, the sector is important to Nigeria’s economic diversification.

GDP from Agriculture in Nigeria increased to 5785472.38 NGN Million in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 5763385.21 NGN Million in the third quarter of 2024. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Nigeria Gdp From Agriculture - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) in Nigeria was reported at 20.35 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Agriculture, value added (% of GDP) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Crop production in Nigeria has shown varied growth patterns in recent years. Between the first quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2023, the sector’s growth rate fluctuated significantly, reflecting the challenges and opportunities inherent in the country’s agricultural landscape. The quarter-on-quarter changes further depict the sector’s vulnerability to climatic variability, logistics, and policy directions. While some quarters witnessed positive growth, others experienced contractions at constant 2010 prices. These dynamics highlight the persistent need for strategic investment to stabilize and accelerate agricultural output. Land and labor Nigeria’s agricultural potential is anchored in its vast land resources. As of 2023, the country boasted around 69.4 million hectares of agricultural land, with approximately 36.9 million hectares classified as arable. This substantial land base is a key driver for major crops such as maize, cassava, and yam, securing rural livelihoods and contributing to food security. Despite rapid urban growth, agriculture remains a major employer in Nigeria. In 2023, the sector accounted for about 34.3 percent of all jobs nationwide, emphasizing its socio-economic relevance to the country. Export potential Agricultural exports, while notable, reveal untapped opportunities. In 2023, Nigeria exported agricultural products valued at 2.43 billion U.S. dollars, making up a modest portion of total national exports. This performance signals room for greater value addition and diversification, as well as the importance of policies that can transform raw production into higher foreign exchange earnings for the country.

Nigeria: Value added in the agricultural sector as percent of GDP: The latest value from 2024 is 20.35 percent, a decline from 22.72 percent in 2023. In comparison, the world average is 9.68 percent, based on data from 151 countries. Historically, the average for Nigeria from 1981 to 2024 is 22.84 percent. The minimum value, 12.24 percent, was reached in 1981 while the maximum of 36.97 percent was recorded in 2002.

Abstract

The programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000 is the eighth in the series for promoting a global approach to agricultural census taking. The first and second programmes were sponsored by the International Institute for Agriculture (IITA) in 1930 and 1940. Subsequent ones up to 1990 were promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO). FAO recommends that each country should conduct at least one agricultural census in each census programme decade and its programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000 for instance corresponds to agricultural census to be undertaken during the decade 1996 to 2005. Many countries do not have sufficient resources for conducting an agricultural census. It therefore became an acceptable practice since 1960 to conduct agricultural census on sample basis for those countries lacking the resources required for a complete enumeration.

In Nigeria's case, a combination of complete enumeration and sample enumeration is adopted whereby the rural (peasant) holdings are covered on sample basis while the modern holdings are covered on complete enumeration. The project named “National Agricultural Sample Census” derives from this practice. Nigeria through the National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) participated in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's programmes of the World Census of Agriculture. Nigeria failed to conduct the Agricultural Census in 2003/2004 because of lack of funding. The NBS regular annual agriculture surveys since 1996 had been epileptic and many years of backlog of data set are still unprocessed. The baseline agricultural data is yet to be updated while the annual regular surveys suffered set back. There is an urgent need by the governments (Federal, State, LGA), sector agencies, FAO and other International Organizations to come together to undertake the agricultural census exercise which is long overdue. The conduct of 2006/2008 National Agricultural Sample Census Survey is now on course with the pilot exercise carried out in the third quarter of 2007.

The National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) 2006/08 is imperative to the strengthening of the weak agricultural data in Nigeria. The project is phased into three sub-projects for ease of implementation; the Pilot Survey, Modern Agricultural Holding and the Main Census. It commenced in the third quarter of 2006 and to terminate in the first quarter of 2008. The pilot survey was implemented collaboratively by National Bureau of Statistics.

The main objective of the pilot survey was to test the adequacy of the survey instruments, equipments and administration of questionnaires, data processing arrangement and report writing. The pilot survey conducted in July 2007 covered the two NBS survey system-the National Integrated Survey of Households (NISH) and National Integrated Survey of Establishment (NISE). The survey instruments were designed to be applied using the two survey systems while the use of Geographic Positioning System (GPS) was introduced as additional new tool for implementing the project.

The Stakeholders workshop held at Kaduna on 21st-23rd May 2007 was one of the initial bench marks for the take off of the pilot survey. The pilot survey implementation started with the first level training (training of trainers) at the NBS headquarters between 13th - 15th June 2007. The second level training for all levels of field personnels was implemented at headquarters of the twelve (12) concerned states between 2nd - 6th July 2007. The field work of the pilot survey commenced on the 9th July and ended on the 13th of July 07. The IMPS and SPSS were the statistical packages used to develop the data entry programme.

Geographic coverage

State

Analysis unit

Household based of fish farmers

Universe

The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents), who were into fish production

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

The survey was carried out in 12 states falling under 6 geo-political zones. 2 states were covered in each geo-political zone. 2 local government areas per selected state were studied. 2 Rural enumeration areas per local government area were covered and 3 Fishing farming housing units were systematically selected and canvassed .

Sampling deviation

There was deviations from the original sample design

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The NASC fishery questionnaire was divided into the following sections: - Holding identification: This is to identify the holder through HU serial number, HH serial number, and demographic characteristics. - Type of fishing sites used by holder. - Sources and quantities of fishing inputs. - Quantity of aquatic production by type. - Quantity sold and value of sale of aquatic products. - Funds committed to fishing by source and others

Cleaning operations

The data processing and analysis plan involved five main stages: training of data processing staff; manual editing and coding; development of data entry programme; data entry and editing and tabulation. Census and Surveys Processing System (CSPro) software were used for data entry, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and CSPro for editing and a combination of SPSS, Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) and EXCEL for table generation. The subject-matter specialists and computer personnel from the NBS and CBN implemented the data processing work. Tabulation Plans were equally developed by these officers for their areas and topics covered in the three-survey system used for the exercise. The data editing is in 2 phases namely manual editing before the data entry were done. This involved using editors at the various zones to manually edit and ensure consistency in the information on the questionnaire. The second editing is the computer editing, this is the cleaning of the already enterd data. The completed questionnaires were collated and edited manually (a) Office editing and coding were done by the editor using visual control of the questionnaire before data entry (b) Cspro was used to design the data entry template provided as external resource (c) Ten operator plus two suppervissor and two progammer were used (d) Ten machines were used for data entry (e) After data entry data entry supervisor runs fequency on each section to see that all the questionnaire were enterd

Response rate

Both Enumeration Area (EA) and Fish holders' level Response Rate was 100 per cent.

Sampling error estimates

No computation of sampling error

Data appraisal

The Quality Control measures were carried out during the survey, essentially to ensure quality of data

Nigeria Exports: Agricultural Goods data was reported at 23,623.135 NGN mn in Mar 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 24,803.204 NGN mn for Feb 2019. Nigeria Exports: Agricultural Goods data is updated monthly, averaging 13,808.070 NGN mn from Jan 2016 (Median) to Mar 2019, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 38,717.960 NGN mn in Nov 2018 and a record low of 3,969.126 NGN mn in Sep 2016. Nigeria Exports: Agricultural Goods data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.JA010: Exports by Sectors.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) in Nigeria was reported at 38215186763 USD in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Agriculture, value added - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land data was reported at 708,000.000 sq km in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 708,000.000 sq km for 2014. Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land data is updated yearly, averaging 611,820.000 sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2015, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 737,000.000 sq km in 2007 and a record low of 472,190.000 sq km in 1981. Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Agricultural land refers to the share of land area that is arable, under permanent crops, and under permanent pastures. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Land under permanent crops is land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber. This category includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber. Permanent pasture is land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; Sum;

Almost ** percent of women in Nigeria were employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing in 2022. The share slightly decreased from the previous year. Generally, since 2000, Nigeria's female employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing has declined.

Contains data from the World Bank's data portal. There is also a consolidated country dataset on HDX.

For the 70 percent of the world's poor who live in rural areas, agriculture is the main source of income and employment. But depletion and degradation of land and water pose serious challenges to producing enough food and other agricultural products to sustain livelihoods here and meet the needs of urban populations. Data presented here include measures of agricultural inputs, outputs, and productivity compiled by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Nigeria: Employment in agriculture, % of total employment: The latest value from 2023 is 34.31 percent, a decline from 34.86 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 22.33 percent, based on data from 177 countries. Historically, the average for Nigeria from 1991 to 2023 is 44.02 percent. The minimum value, 34.31 percent, was reached in 2023 while the maximum of 52.4 percent was recorded in 1991.

In 2023, Nigeria had approximately 69.4 million hectares of agricultural land. Agriculture is a key activity for Nigeria's economy after oil. Nevertheless, agricultural activities provide a livelihood for many Nigerians, whereas the wealth generated by oil reaches a restricted share of people. In fact, agricultural production ranks among the ten main export categories from Nigeria.

Nigeria agriculture equipment market is projected to grow over the forecast period due to the mechanization in agriculture sector with the rapid infrastructural development.

Abstract

The programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000 is the eighth in the series for promoting a global approach to agricultural census taking. The first and second programmes were sponsored by the International Institute for Agriculture (IITA) in 1930 and 1940. Subsequent ones up to 1990 were promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO). FAO recommends that each country should conduct at least one agricultural census in each census programme decade and its programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000 for instance corresponds to agricultural census to be undertaken during the decade 1996 to 2005. Many countries do not have sufficient resources for conducting an agricultural census. It therefore became an acceptable practice since 1960 to conduct agricultural census on sample basis for those countries lacking the resources required for a complete enumeration.

In Nigeria's case, a combination of complete enumeration and sample enumeration is adopted whereby the rural (peasant) holdings are covered on sample basis while the modern holdings are covered on complete enumeration. The project named “National Agricultural Sample Census” derives from this practice. Nigeria through the National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) participated in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's programmes of the World Census of Agriculture. Nigeria failed to conduct the Agricultural Census in 2003/2004 because of lack of funding. The NBS regular annual agriculture surveys since 1996 had been epileptic and many years of backlog of data set are still unprocessed. The baseline agricultural data is yet to be updated while the annual regular surveys suffered set back. There is an urgent need by the governments (Federal, State, LGA), sector agencies, FAO and other International Organizations to come together to undertake the agricultural census exercise which is long overdue. The conduct of 2006/2008 National Agricultural Sample Census Survey is now on course with the pilot exercise carried out in the third quarter of 2007.

The National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) 2006/08 is imperative to the strengthening of the weak agricultural data in Nigeria. The project is phased into three sub-projects for ease of implementation; the Pilot Survey, Modern Agricultural Holding and the Main Census. It commenced in the third quarter of 2006 and to terminate in the first quarter of 2008. The pilot survey was implemented collaboratively by National Bureau of Statistics.

The main objective of the pilot survey was to test the adequacy of the survey instruments, equipments and administration of questionnaires, data processing arrangement and report writing. The pilot survey conducted in July 2007 covered the two NBS survey system-the National Integrated Survey of Households (NISH) and National Integrated Survey of Establishment (NISE). The survey instruments were designed to be applied using the two survey systems while the use of Geographic Positioning System (GPS) was introduced as additional new tool for implementing the project.

The Stakeholders workshop held at Kaduna on 21st-23rd May 2007 was one of the initial bench marks for the take off of the pilot survey. The pilot survey implementation started with the first level training (training of trainers) at the NBS headquarters between 13th - 15th June 2007. The second level training for all levels of field personnels was implemented at headquarters of the twelve (12) concerned states between 2nd - 6th July 2007. The field work of the pilot survey commenced on the 9th July and ended on the 13th of July 07. The IMPS and SPSS were the statistical packages used to develop the data entry programme.

Geographic coverage

State

Analysis unit

Household crop farmers

Universe

Crop farming household

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

The survey was carried out in 12 states falling under 6 geo-political zones. 2 states were covered in each geo-political zone. 2 local government areas per selected state were studied. 2 Rural enumeration areas per local government area were covered and
4 Crop farming housing units were systematically selected and canvassed .

Sampling deviation

No deviation

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The NASC crop questionnaire was divided into the following sections: - Holding identification - Holding characteristics - Access to land - Access to credit and funds used - Production input utilization, quantity and cost - Sources of inputs/equipment - Area harvested - Agric machinery - Production - Farm expenditure - Processing facilities - Storage facilities - Employment in agric. - Farm expenditure - Sales - Consumption - Market channels - Livestock farming - Fish farming

Cleaning operations

The data processing and analysis plan involved five main stages: training of data processing staff; manual editing and coding; development of data entry programme; data entry and editing and tabulation. Census and Surveys Processing System (CSPro) software were used for data entry, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and CSPro for editing and a combination of SPSS, Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) and EXCEL for table generation. The subject-matter specialists and computer personnel from the NBS and CBN implemented the data processing work. Tabulation Plans were equally developed by these officers for their areas and topics covered in the three-survey system used for the exercise. The data editing is in 2 phases namely manual editing before the data entry were done. This involved using editors at the various zones to manually edit and ensure consistency in the information on the questionnaire. The second editing is the computer editing, this is the cleaning of the already entered data. The completed questionnaires were collected and edited manually (a) Office editing and coding were done by the editor using visual control of the questionnaire before data entry (b) Cspro was used to design the data entry template provided as external resource (c) Ten operator plus two suppervissor and two progammer were used (d) Ten machines were used for data entry (e) After data entry data entry supervisor runs fequency on each section to see that all the questionnaire were enterd

Response rate

The response rate at EA level was 100 percent, while 98.44 percent was achieved at crop farming housing units level

Sampling error estimates

No computation of sampling error

Data appraisal

The Quality Control measures were carried out during the survey, essentially to ensure quality of data. There were two levels of supervision involving the supervisors at the first level, NBS State Officers and Zonal Controllers at second level and finally the NBS Headquarters staff constituting the second level supervision.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (annual % growth) in Nigeria was reported at 1.1881 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Agriculture, value added (annual % growth) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land: % of Land Area data was reported at 77.736 % in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 77.736 % for 2014. Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land: % of Land Area data is updated yearly, averaging 67.176 % from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2015, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 80.921 % in 2007 and a record low of 51.845 % in 1981. Nigeria NG: Agricultural Land: % of Land Area data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Agricultural land refers to the share of land area that is arable, under permanent crops, and under permanent pastures. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Land under permanent crops is land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber. This category includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber. Permanent pasture is land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; Weighted average;

This Data Article accommodates secondary data, comprising of the available historic and current farm production data in Nigeria such as crop type, yields, prices, crop production inputs’ (e.g. labour, fertilizer, pesticide, seed, cash capital) as well as the Nigerian food consumption demand, and international commodity trade (import and export) data. The data were collected from reputable online databases such as FAOSTAT, World Bank, IMF, USDA, NBS, IITA, etc., and through personal research visits to Nigerian government agencies such as Federal and State Ministries of Agricultural and Rural Development, State Agricultural Development Agency (ADP) in Nigeria, National (Nigerian) Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and others; and were assembled, screened, processed (tabulated them according to GAMS table requirements). The data were applied via General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) to calibrate the ever first developed Nigerian Agricultural Sector Model, regionalised into existing six geo-political zones of Nigeria, in order to develop a reliable empirical tool for evidence-based agricultural development planning and policymaking in Nigeria. It is the Base (or Calibration) model, upon which the Nigerian Energy-Food Model (NEFM) is further built and applied to analyse the Nigerian Biofuels policy (i.e. bioethanol production potential), and its impacts on the Nigerian food and energy securities, job creation, rural economy development, and the entire Nigerian economy. Therefore, NASM-Data share some data with Mendeley Data (NEFM), while they both retain some data that are unique to them. Ndukwe Agbai Dick collected all the data, processed and applied them through GAMS to first develop NASM model that calibrates exactly the existing crop production environment and/or data in Nigeria before extending the model further to develop the NEFM, and finally applied the NEFM to analyse the Nigerian Biofuels Potential during his PhD research studies at Newcastle University, England, between October 2010 and September, 2014. The research visit took place between March 1st and June, 2012. Research findings from the analysis of these data using GAMS are currently being documented in paper titled "The Nigerian Agricultural Sector Model (NASM): A Sectoral Agricultural Policymaking Tool & An Empirical Model for Optimizing Food Production and Boosting Food Security in Nigeria", for submission to an international peer-reviewed and reputable high impact journal – Agricultural Systems (AS).