Juniper Publishers Annals of Social Sciences and Management studies

  Annals of Social Sciences & Management Studies-Juniper Publishers Introduction The Nigerian agricultural sector had traditionally been expected to fulfil such roles as providing food for the growing population, generate foreign exchange earnings, employ part of the teeming labour force and provide income for the farming households. The contribution of the agricultural sector to the value of the national output otherwise called gross domestic product (GDP) has been relatively low over the years, averaging less than 40 percent during the 1980 - 1998 period (CBN, 1998a). Although, the agricultural sector accounted for 60 – 70 percent of the non-oil export value, its contribution amounted to less than 10 percent of the total export per-annum recently (CBN, 1998b). Empirical evaluation of food supply by the Nigerian agricultural sector has been somewhat mixed results. However, the food import bills, which grew from N58.50 million in 1970, N1,106million in 1978 to 102,165million in 199

  Annals of Social Sciences & Management Studies-Juniper Publishers Introduction Sustainability is the art (that require certain skills) and social science (that following a scientific approach) of upholding, supporting, and maintaining a system or process to remain productive indefinitely. Sustainable development, on the other hand, is the process of meeting development goals through an organizing principle or strategic sustainable plans that ensures indefinite availability of resources for present and future needs [1]. It is a process that fosters a sustainable environment for societal development without compromising the future need for available resources. In consonance to the, Ulrich [2] stressed that sustainable development is concerned with carrying capacity of the natural system with the social, political, and economic challenges faced by humanity with emphases on the present generation’s responsibility to regenerate, maintain, and improve planetary resources for use by the