Agricultural commodity marketing in Nigeria without the Marketing Boards

From colonial times to independence, Marketing Boards were established primarily for marketing exportable agricultural commodities produced in Nigeria on behalf of the producers. This role, though greatly mutilated by government in search of other interests, was expanded in the 1970s to take care of non-export agricultural commodities. In less than a decade after this expansion, the Boards are being completely scrapped to pave way for the ‘free play’ of market forces in the marketing of agricultural commodities both internally and externally.

The focus of this paper is to examine' the problems and prospects of agricultural marketing in Nigeria in the absence of the institutional arrangement provided by the Marketing Boards. A critical examination of the Export Promotion Council will be made in respect of export crops. A critical analysis of the marketing of crops for domestic use will also be undertaken. The policy implications arising from the analysis will be presented.