Staple food policy and supply response in Nigeria: A case of cassava

Author: Nkang M. Nkang ^*, Daniel S. Udom and Sylvester O. Abang

Received 13 August 2005, accepted 27 March 2006.

Abstract

Increased government concern in making agriculture a major foreign exchange earner and contributor to the nation’s gross domestic product as part of its economic diversification agenda leads directly to a need for information about farmers’ response to changes in price and non-price factors. This is particularly important in the case of Nigerian cassava production; having assumed a centre stage as a potential export crop, and in spite of constituting a significant proportion of staple diets of Nigerians. This paper analyses the supply response of cassava farmers in Nigeria using a dynamic regression model. The results show that tinkering with price and market incentives may have adverse effects on farmers’ response, and in turn government’s objective of making cassava a foreign exchange earner for the country. Again, the paper reveals that contractionary fiscal policies would hurt crops such as cassava, which are responsive to non-price fiscal incentives.