Agriculture has been the backbone of the economy in Nigeria providing employment and
source of livelihood for the increasing population and accounting for over half of the GDP of
the Nigeria economy at independence in 1960. However, the role it plays in the regional and
economic development of the country has diminished over the years due to the dominant role
of the crude oil sector in the economy. With the increasing food demand in Nigeria, the
country has available input natural resources and potential for increasing the volume of crop
production towards meeting the food and nutritional requirement of the rapidly increasing
population and guarantee food security in the country. The study was undertaken to analyse
the effect of different factors and policies on the changes in trend of crop production and
investigate the possible effect of water resources development on increased volume of
agricultural crop production in Nigeria.
The study revealed that there are opportunities for water resources development in the
country through irrigation to supplement the water requirements and needs of farmers for
agricultural production activities in many areas in the semi-arid and arid regions. Available
data shows that there are available land and water resources that could be developed to
support the production of food and agricultural development with opportunity for increased
productivity.

However, while the water resources are unevenly distributed in the country, there is need for
the efficient use and management of the available water resources and increasing the
productive use especially in the northern region of the country where there is increasing
incidence of drought and competing need for water among the different sectors of the
economy. The study also made possible recommendations for policy formulation to address
the current problems facing the agricultural sector in conjunction with the requirement for the
development of the water resources.