EFFECTS OF PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS ON AGRICULTURAL GROWTH IN NIGERIA

The study examined the effects of public, private and foreign direct agricultural investments on Nigeria agricultural growth from 1990-2023 using secondary data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), World Development Indicators (WDI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletins. Descriptive Statistics, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and Error Correction Model (ECM) were used for data analysis. The variables (all) were found to be stationary at first difference and the Johansen-Juselius Cointegration test was conducted to ascertain cointegration existence. The VECM results showed that in the long-run, the coefficients of Private Agricultural Investment (PRIV) (0.154), Public Agricultural Expenditure (PAEX) (0.682) and Foreign Direct Investment in Agriculture (FDIA) (0.296) were all positive and significant at 5% level of probability implying that the variables exhibited positive relationship with overall agricultural GDP in the long-run in Nigeria under the reviewed period. Expectedly, the error correction term (ECT) coefficient (-0.492427) was negative and significant at 5% level of probability which further confirmed the existence of long-run relationships among the variables in the model. The trend analysis showed fluctuations in public, private and foreign direct agricultural investments in Nigeria over the years. The noticeable increase and consistent growth in the sector may be credited to the prevailing agricultural government policies.It is recommended that government should review upward public agricultural expenditure, encourage the promotion of private and foreign direct investments promote investment-friendly macroeconomic policies and commercial bank lending to small holders.