MASTER’S DEGREE THESIS: Analysis of Sustainable Agricultural Resource Use in Nigeria: An Ecological
Footprint Approach.
SUMMARY:
The broad objective of the study was to analyse sustainable agricultural resource use in Nigeria
using Ecological Footprint Approach. The specific objectives were to; estimate the global emergy
and emergy density, determine the ecological footprint per capita, analyse the per capita bio-
capacity, and ascertain the level of agricultural resource use, sustainability status and resource
substitution in Nigeria. The total land area, population and thematic data of the country were used
for the study. The 2011 aggregate national data collected from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Global Footprint Network (GFN), National Population
Commission (NPC), Ocean Data and Information Network for Africa (ODINAFRICA), World
Bank, International Energy Agency, UN agencies and affiliated organizations such as the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UN Statistics Division (UN Commodity Trade
Statistics Database), were used for specific objectives. Appropriate ecological footprint and
emergy accounting tools were used to analyse the data collected. Results showed that the total
emergy amount of the earth and the country were 1.58E+25 sej/a and 1.23E+23sej/a, respectively.
Results also showed that the emergy density index of the earth was 3.10E+10 sej/m2/year, while
that of Nigeria was 1.33E+11 sej/m2/year. This implies that a total energy of 3.10E+10 sej was
used up per meter square of the total global hectares to provide for the ecosystem services or life
support services of the earth, and with the interaction of the renewable resource flows, a total
energy of 1.33E+11sej was expended in the transformation of agricultural resources per meter
square of the land area of the country. Results showed that demand for agricultural resources per
capita were 5.22 arable land, 2.54 pasture land, 0.816 water area, 0.131 forest land, 2.6 fossil land
and 0.0000481 built-up area, with a total ecological footprint of 11.3 hectares per capita.
Renewable resources available per capita for the year were 0.0104 hectares (Sun), 2.36 hectares
(Rain/chemical potential),1.79 hectares (Rain/geo-potential), 0.0185 hectares (Wind) and 1.03
hectares (Earth cycle), with a total carrying capacity (bio-capacity) per capita of 5.2 hectares. The
implication of the ecological footprint and bio-capacity results is that an average Nigerian
consumes more agricultural resources than were available to sustain life for the year. The level of
agricultural resource use and sustainability status showed a sustainability gap of -6.1 hectares per
capita, and considering the carrying capacity of the country for the year (5.2ha/cap) as a reference
point, it is an indication that agricultural resource use in Nigeria is not sustainable, entailing weak
sustainability status and high level of resource substitution due to this ecological deficit (-6.1
hectares), and hence sustainable development cannot be achieved given this level of agricultural
resource use in the country. The null hypothesis that the ecological footprint for agricultural
resources is not significantly different from the composite index (carrying capacity) was rejected,
concluding that the level of agricultural resource use in the country is different from its
regenerative capacity. The study however recommended that ecological farming, organic farming,
and other sustainable agricultural systems that reduce the footprint for arable land should be
adopted in the country, and that policy makers in the country should devise ways of reducing the
importation and consumption of foreign food crops and encourage local food crop farmers – as
this will reduce the ecological footprint of the country; and to ensure that agricultural resources
are sustainable, every citizen of the country should adjust his/her lifestyle so as to reduce
consumption by 6.1 hectares per person, preserve and conserve agricultural resources for the
current use and the future generation – as this will pave ways to achieving sustainable development
in the country.
