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Abstract

Nigeria, like most developing countries, depends on agriculture primarily for subsistence and export revenues. However, Nigeria is confronted with food security challenges. Several factors have contributed to this problem, such as demographic trends, crude farming methods, deforestation, the oil boom and public policies that are not consistent with the socio-economic and political realities of the state.

Given these challenges, this inquiry will examine the socio-economic and environmental implications of recent recommendations by development agencies such as the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP), which has prescribed the use of biotechnology to address Africa's food security problems. This recommendation appears to be consistent with past "growth oriented" development strategies that call for accelerated agricultural development in Africa and other developing areas. However, these strategies have not led to significant improvement in the agricultural sector in most of these areas.

Thus, this study suggests that though biotechnology may have some potential benefits that could lead to increased agricultural production in developing economies, African countries such as Nigeria should take cautionary steps in the adoption of such input because very little is known about its bio-safety. Instead, the primary focus for sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria should be the adoption of sound environmental preservation and conservation methods and the integration of indigenous knowledge as participatory approaches in the agricultural development process.

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