Dynamics of soyabean production in Nigerian agriculture

Abstract

Despite large oil reserve, Nigeria as a developing country has urgent economic problems which only agriculture can alleviate. The introduction of soyabean in Nigerian agricultural system can diversify the food for both man and his livestock. Soyabean is a crop with high potentials, but its future in the agricultural system may depend on its performance as a component of polyculture and acceptability in the traditional cropping systems. Soyabean has desirable characteristics for intercropping such as erect growth habit, and high productivity under wide row spacing, nevertheless, soyabean is currently rarely used in intercrop combinations. Successful introduction of soyabean into intercrop system will ensure greater diversification of crops grown within each agroecological region of the country. The general adoption of the crop has been very limited despite some notable success in some specific areas like expansion and utilization. Soyabean production problems are mostly critical during establishment, maturity and storage.

Keywords: agricultural system, cropping system, sustainable agriculture, Glycine max, productivity, soyabean adoption

Global Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 4(2) 2005: 169-172