Impact of Crop Production on Economic Growth in Nigeria, 1981 – 2018

Abstract

This study examined the impact of crop production on economic growth in Nigeria utilizing annual time series data from 1981 to 2018. The study used Johansen cointegration test, Vector Error Correction test, the impulse response functions and variance decomposition for data analysis after the data series were checked against unit root problem using the Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test. The study tested and found that increase in the production of cassava, cocoyam, groundnut, guinea corn, maize, millet, rice and yam spurs economic growth in Nigeria in the long-run except for cotton production and with only groundnut production contributing significantly to the output of the Nigerian economy in the short- run. The study, therefore recommends that the Nigerian government should encourage farmers in the production of crops through supply of fertilizer to increase their productivity and food output while improving their use of modern seedlings and technology in the production that may in turn increase the crop production while farmers should be encouraged to adapt best practices in farming to maximize crop yield.