Post on 20-Jan-2023
1
AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN
CROP FARMING ON JOB CREATION IN NIGERIADr Agboola, J. O1, (Rector), Dr Ademiluyi, L. F1 (Deputy Rector),
Solomon, A. Z1 (Director of Research), Olaleye M. O1 (Director of
Entrepreneurship Education) and Oladunjoye, O.2 (Lecturer I)1- Osun State Polytechnic, Private Mail Bag 301, Iree, Osun State,
Nigeria2- Centre for Entrepreneurship Education, Yaba College of Technology,
Yaba, Lagos State.
1e-mail: olaleyeolugbenga@yahoo.com; femiluyi@yahoo.co.uk,thompsondx@yahoo.com and agboolajo@yahoo.com
2e-mail: oladunjoyeolawale@yahoo.com
Abstract
Entrepreneurship, Job Creation and Unemployment are economic issues which have a lot to
do with population trends in the economy. In Nigeria, unemployment remains the major source of
poverty particularly among the youths between eighteen to twenty-eight age cohorts.
Entrepreneurship, therefore, becomes the catalyst of a source of job creation in Nigeria.
Employment creation is no longer the prerogative of government but a joint effort between the
public and private sectors. This is with a view to identifying these entrepreneurial characteristics
and the factors that influence their translation to optimum job creation and business
performance. This paper relied on secondary data extracted from the statistical records of
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria via Statistics Division of the Department of Budget,
Planning, Research and Statistics, Boripe Local Government, Osun State, Nigeria. In order to
provide empirical basis for the impact of entrepreneurship development on crop farming in
relation with job creation in Nigeria, the data was analyzed by regression method where
1
employment (measured per thousand) was compared with investment in crop agriculture
(measured in million naira) intentionally to know whether or not there is any correlation
(relationship) between the two variables under study. The results showed that the technical
entrepreneurship talent which translates in creating jobs in the real sector of the economy is
lacking in Nigeria. It is concluded that, in job creation, crop agriculture covers approximately 97%.
This paper also concluded that there is need for a strategic approach to focus on crop farming
that involves as many stakeholders as possible.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Job Creation, Unemployment, Investment, Crop Farming.
1
INTRODUCTION
The experiences of developed
economics in relation to the
roles played by entrepreneurship
buttresses the fact that the
importance of entrepreneurship
cannot be overemphasized
especially among the developing
countries. In order to highlight
its significance in relation to
the growth and development of a
given economy, entrepreneurship
has been variously referred to as
a major source of job creation.
Unemployment remains the major
cause of poverty particularly
among the youths between 18 to 28
age cohorts. Dike (2009) notes
that youth full time unemployment
rate for 2006–2008 was 55.9
percent, four times higher than
the national unemployment rate of
19 percent. It is believed that
if government encourages
investment in crop farming, the
rate of unemployment in Nigeria
will reduce drastically.
Entrepreneurial activities have
been found to be capable of
making positive impact on the
economy of a nation and the
quality of life of the people
(Adejumo 2000). Studies have
established its positive
relationship with stimulation of
economic growth, employment
generation and empowerment of the
disadvantaged segment of the
population, which include women
and the poor (Oluremi and Agboola
2011).
Nigeria has numerous business and
investment potentials due to the
abundant, vibrant and dynamic
human and natural resources it
possesses. These resources
require the ability to identify
potentially useful and
economically viable fields of
endeavours. Nigerians have made
their marks in diverse fields
such as science, technology,
academics, business and
1
entertainment, to mention but a
view.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurship
activities and job creation in
Nigeria have developed
enterprises in the following
areas: In Power and Transport
Sector, there are power
generations, haulage business
(cargo and passengers);
agricultural/agro-allied
activities where there are
foodstuffs, restaurants, fast
food vending, etc. In the area of
solid minerals, there are
quarrying, germ stone
cutting/polishing and crushing
engineering. In the area of
information and telecom business,
there are manufacturing and
repairs of GSM accessories as
well as printing and selling of
recharge cards. In oil and gas
business, there are construction
and maintenance of pipelines,
drilling, refining bye products.
In hospitality and tourism
business, there are hotels,
accommodation, resorts centres,
film and home video production.
In engineering and fabrication
work, there are machines and
tools fabrications. In the area
of environmental and waste
management business, there are
refuse collection/disposal,
recycling and drainage/sewage
construction job.
In Nigeria, small scale
businesses represent about 90% of
the industrial sector in terms of
the number of enterprises. They
also account for 70% of national
industrial employment if the
threshold is set at 10 – 50
employees, small scale businesses
contribute 10% of manufacturing
output and a meager 1% of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in 2001
(Ajayi, 2002). Similarly, they
have also contributed
significantly to economic
development through employment,
job creation and sustainable
1
livelihood (Nigerian Investment
Promotion Commission
2003).Studies have shown that the
entrepreneurs most especially the
small scale, in many countries
provide the mechanism for
promoting indigenous
entrepreneurship, enhancing
greater opportunities per unit of
capital invested, aiding the
development of local technology
and creating job opportunities
(Sule, 1986, Nils – Henrik and
Morch, 1995)
The inability of government at
various levels to provide
employment for its citizenry
cannot be shouldered by the
government alone but also its
citizens because government alone
cannot provide jobs for
everybody; this is why people
should learn to be ‘self-
employed’.
A cursory look at Nigeria
indicates that she either lacks
entrepreneurship ability or that
government entrepreneurship
oriented policies are not
effective. Ugwu (2006) argues
that most entrepreneurship
related policies and programs in
Nigeria fall short of appropriate
development frameworks.
Today, Nigeria is confronted with
dismal economic indices,
unemployment, poverty, and a weak
exchange rate. Despite the
Nigerian economy’s advertised
impressive growth rate reportedly
about 8 percent annually in
recent times, the economic impact
of entrepreneurial development is
relatively low. The socio-
economic situation today is
largely due to our failure to
develop the incapacities to
efficiently harness the
opportunity sets. To a large
extent, we in Africa have entered
into ‘Logic of Poverty’ because
we are no longer capable of
1
internally generating the
capacities to procure goods and
services that correspond to our
needs and desires. Therefore, the
greatest challenge is to turn
around the subsistent
agricultural sector characterized
by low productivity to become
remunerative, competitive and
sustainable.
The dexterity with which hunger
and poverty have devastated lives
and future ambition of youths
especially graduates in Nigeria
have led to scholars prescribing
entrepreneurship development as
the permanent cure for extreme
hunger and poverty necessitated
by unemployment. Hence, economic
displacement is one of the
external forces that influence
the development of
entrepreneurship. The great need
for entrepreneurship in Nigeria
today, more than ever, is
necessitated by the rate of
unemployment and its effect on
both the people and the nation
and the need for small and medium
enterprises.
The rapid growth in population
has created concerns for income
generation and jobs creation,
which are supposed to sustain the
population on an acceptable
standard of living in practical
terms. The high population has
already created a rising level of
unemployment in the country.
Government capacity to provide
employment is dwindling as
government gradually withdraws
from the business, with emphasis
on reduced cost of governance and
drastic reduction in the number
of government institution. People
have been growing crops such as
grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables,
cotton, food or even flowers
either at subsistence level or on
commercial basis as a means of
job creation in Nigeria.
1
Government of any nation should,
with a view to reducing the rate
of unemployment in such a
particular country, be more
participative in the development
and encouragement of small and
medium scale businesses. It is to
be noted that the willingness in
many citizens to actively
participate in small and medium
scale entrepreneurial activities
especially in crop farming is
becoming relatively low as a
result of reduced rate of
government participation at
various levels.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The concepts of Entrepreneurship
and Job Creation
The word ‘Entrepreneur’ is
derived from the French verb
entrepreneur, which means to
undertake. Economic scholars from
time to time of Adam Smith,
through the neoclassical era, the
English Economists, the American
Economists down to the German
school all have their various
perspective of the role and
function of the entrepreneur in
economic activity. There is
agreement however that creation
of wealth is not a function of
land, labour and capital alone.
While importance of these basic
productive factors is recognized,
more important is the role of the
entrepreneur or the organizer.
Binks and Vale (1990) for
instance, define entrepreneurship
as an unrehearsed combination of
economic resources instigated by
the uncertain prospect of
temporary monopoly profit”.
Entrepreneur is also defined as
the “instigator of
entrepreneurial events for so
long as they occur” (Kanothi,
2009)
Say (1845) saw the entrepreneur
as the organizer whose input gave
value to the other resources when
1
combined in the production
process. Schumpeter (1934)
emphasized the role of the
entrepreneur as innovation and
technical change, that is, the
introduction of new combinations
of factors in new process or for
new output.
The role of the entrepreneur as
an agent of economic growth and
employment generation in the
society has gained considerable
attention both in the literature
and the policy thrust of well
developed, and developed and
developing economics (Lauder,
Bookcock and Presley, 1994). What
makes entrepreneurship
significant is the ability to
create a commercial or industrial
enterprise and this can be very
crucial to the advancement of
social progress. The creation of
small and medium scale
enterprises and their subsequent
expansion through successful
development adds to the
productive capacity of a nation.
Entrepreneurship has been
characterized as productive and
unproductive (Baumul, 1993).
Productive entrepreneurship
contributes to economic growth
while unproductive
entrepreneurship results in net
reduction of social income and
wealth. Thus, only when
entrepreneurship is productive
that can make positive
contribution to a nation’s
output.
Basically, the Nigerian private
sector can be categorized into
three broad industrial spheres:
Oil, Agriculture and Industrial /
Services (including non-oil
mining). The Nigerian economy has
depended largely on crude oil for
its sustenance, which contributes
over 90% of its foreign exchange.
Diversification of the resource
base of the economy informed the
1
establishment of SAP and the
orientation towards a market led
economy. But in terms of
entrepreneurial development, it
can be argued that the oil
industry has minimal
contribution. This is because its
Nigerian content has been
estimated at less than 5%. Most
of the entrepreneurial activities
of the oil industry are initiated
outside the country’s boundaries,
with Nigerians playing a passive
role, at best.
Agriculture, on the other hand,
has been the main occupation of
Nigerians and engages the
majority of her people.
Entrepreneurially, agriculture
presents far more opportunities
for entrepreneurial development
in the sense that it is a
breeding ground for micro-
business. This study focused on
crop farming only, which is one
of the branches of agriculture,
and the rate of involvement in
entrepreneurial activities in
Nigeria.
The Industrial / Services Sector
is where entrepreneurial talents
would be expected to be markedly
exhibited because of the vast
opportunities that exist in the
production of goods and services
as well as the major role played
by agriculture in the supply of
raw materials needed for the
production. Therefore, most
references to entrepreneurship
focus on the industrial and
services sector.
The recent policy measures of the
Nigerian government towards
agriculture as well as small and
medium scale industries funding
signify their entrepreneurial
quality. According to the
European Commission (1992)
Classification of SMEs, based on
number of employees, a micro
enterprise is a firm that has
between 0 and 9 employees and
since most Nigerian farmers
1
operate at the subsistence level,
they are mainly micro –
businesses. However, farming as a
business enterprise, with an
entrepreneurial bent, is still in
its infancy. The mode of farming
in most communities has remained
traditional / primitive. But in
terms of the number of people
engaged in agriculture and its
Nigerian contents, the
agricultural sector should be a
major contributor to GDP.
The effects of the business cycle
as well as underlying structural
questions have been the subject
of a large body of research and
policy recommendations. Among the
structural aspect, the relation
between firm size and employment
creation has attracted policy-
makers’ attention. Triggered by
empirical work by David Birch’s
work and the rising interest by
policy-makers in employment
issues led to further studies of
the subject, especially in the
United State, and in other
countries. Soon a debate emerged,
mainly in academic circles about
the robustness of Birch’s results
with respect to their validity
across countries, sectors and
over time and several important
methodological and data questions
were identified. This led to an
improvement in methods of
analysis and the understanding of
the importance of firm size in
job creation.
At the heart of the debate on the
economy are two fundamentally
different view points on how jobs
are actually created. In the view
of the liberal economist, they
state that the economy is powered
by consumer demand. Job creation
is a function of the amount being
spent on the free market. The
government can stimulate the
economy by purchasing goods and
services on the market or by
giving citizens money or
1
incentives to purchase goods and
services.
Thus, the conservative economists
state that the economy is powered
by business owners. Jobs are
created when business owners have
enough revenue that they can
afford to hire new workers while
maintaining healthy profits.
Government can’t stimulate the
economy, but if it takes away any
profits from business owners,
they will stop hiring.
Agriculture, also called farming
or husbandry, is the cultivation
of animals, plants, fungi and
other life forms for food, fiber,
biofuel and other products used
to sustain life. Agriculture was
the key development in the rise
of sedentary human civilization,
whereby farming of domesticated
species created food surpluses
that nurtured the development of
civilization. The major
agricultural products can be
broadly grouped into foods,
fibers, fuels and raw materials.
Crop farming is the act of
growing crops such as grains,
fruits, nuts, vegetables, cottons
and foods. Important categories
of crops include grains and
pseudograins, pulses (legumes),
forage, fruits and vegetables.
Specific crops are cultivated in
distinct growing regions
throughout the world, in millions
of metric tones, based on Food
and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) estimates.
Theoretical Framework
There is a relationship between
the classical economists and
Schumpeter and his cohort in the
theory of entrepreneurship, hence
many entrepreneurial theoretical
insight have come from economics
including a rediscovery of the
work of Schumpeter. While the
explanations of entrepreneurship
have adopted different
1
theoretical assumptions, most of
these concern three central
features of entrepreneurial
phenomena, the nature of
entrepreneurial opportunities,
the nature of the decision making
context within which
entrepreneurs operate.
The theoretical foundation of
this paper is based on the
psychological theories of the
refugee and Schumpeter effects.
This process of unemployment
fast-tracking entrepreneurship
activity has been termed a
refugee effect. This remarkable
view dates back at least to
Oxenfeldt (1943) who pointed out
that individuals confronted with
unemployment and low prospects
for wage employment often turn to
self-employment as a viable
alternative. This observation was
also an extension of Knight’s
view that individuals make a
decision among three states-
unemployment, self-employment and
employment will lead to an
increase in start-up business
activity on the grounds that the
opportunity cost of not starting
a firm has decreased - Evans and
Leughton (1990) and Blanchflower
and Meyer (1994).
Similarly, Picot et al (1998) and
Rfeiffer and Reize (2000) observe
that new firms hire the needed
employees to work for them, thus
helping to reduce the level of
unemployment in the society.
Evans and Leughton, (1990) found
that unemployment is positively
associated with greater
propensity to start a new firm.
Many other studies established
that greater unemployment serves
as a catalyst for start-up
activity (Reynolds, Miller and
Makai, 1995; Reynolds, Storey and
Westhead, 1994). The process of
entrepreneurship activity
reducing unemployment situation
in the economy is termed
1
“Schumpeter Effect”. Garofoloi
(1994) and Audretsch and Fritsch
(1994) in their separate studies
found that unemployment is
negatively related with new firm
start-ups, that is, as new
businesses are established
employability is stimulated and
unemployment reduces
sustainability. In the same vein,
Lucas (1978) and Jovanovic (1982)
note that high unemployment in
the society is associated with a
low degree of entrepreneurial
activities, that is, where
propensity to start-up
enterprises is low, the rate of
unemployment would be very high.
The effect of the above theory is
that those who are employed tend
to remain so because they possess
lower endowments of human capital
and entrepreneurial talents
required to start and sustain new
firms to keep them going. A low
rate of entrepreneurship culture
and skills in any society may be
a consequence of the low economic
growth, which also reflects
higher levels of unemployment
(Andretsch, 1995; Oladele P. O.
et al, 2011).
Entrepreneurship Development
Programmes (EDP) in Nigeria
The Federal and State Governments
in Nigeria embarked upon various
Entrepreneurship Development
Programmes (EDPs) since
independence to encourage self-
employment. The old Western
Government introduced farm
settlement in 1960 with the aim
of absorbing the unemployed
school leavers and drop-outs into
gainful employment. The Eastern
Nigerian Government introduced
similar schemes to encourage job
creation. The Northern Nigerian
Government introduced the
employment oriented programmes
such as the Northern Nigerian
Farm Settlements and Ceramic
Training Centres. The Obasanjo
government in the late 1970
introduced the “Operation feed
1
the Nation” as well as “Shagari’s
Green Revolution” which
encouraged small farm holdings.
The Imo State Government in
Nigeria introduced the Imo Youth
Farm Programme and the Graduate
Farmers’ Scheme. In 1986, the
Lagos State Government
established a Graduate Farming
Scheme to deal with the problems
of unemployment and food
shortage. The Ondo State designed
the “Back-to-Water” Programme for
the indigenes of the riverine
areas as well as the “Back-to-
Land” Programme designed to
involve the state indigenes
interested in agriculture as a
means of livelihood. While the
Oyo State Government of Nigeria
introduced the Integrated Self-
Employment for University and
Polytechnic Graduates in
Agriculture.
Despite the fact that some of
these state programmes were
successful, the Federal
Government re-emphasized and
demonstrated its concern for the
problem of mass unemployment by
setting up the National
Directorate of Employment (NDE)
late 1986. In the year 1987, the
‘Working for Yourself Programme’
was launched by the Federal
Ministry of Industry.
The important point to note here
is the impact of these
Entrepreneurship Development
Programmes (EDPs) on economic
development particularly in
eradicating poverty and
generating employment. Within one
year of existence, the National
Directorate of Employment (NDE)
registered laudable achievements,
for example, its National Open
Apprenticeship Scheme had eighty-
three thousand (83,000)
participants within four months
as against a target of fifty
thousand (50,000) for a whole
year (FOS, 1987). About half of
1
them were later assisted to be
self-employed. Similarly, the
National Directorate of
Employment (NDE)’s Special Public
Works Projects (SPWP) had a
yearly target of twenty thousand
(20,000) while twenty-four
thousand (24,000) actually passed
through it in the first nine
months of existence and most of
these acquired skills in
construction and maintenance for
setting up own enterprises later.
The agricultural programmes
provided up to forty-five
thousand (45,000) jobs and
yielded thousands of tones of
harvested crops, thus alleviating
poverty. Finally, the Small Scale
Industries and the Graduate
Employment Programme provided
training loans and jobs for
unemployed graduates. All
National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) Members were trained in
Entrepreneurship while in camp
and some were later given loans
to set up own enterprises.
Furthermore, within a few months
of operations, the National
Directorate of Employment (NDE)
established and reactivated one
hundred and ninety-five (195) co-
operatives, while the
participants in its waste to
health programme made products
that were being test marketed and
popularly accepted by ships and
consumers generally (Fatunla,
1989a). The peculiar problems
facing small business
entrepreneurs have been
identified as lack of skilled
manpower and technical know-how,
finance and capital, raw
materials, machinery and
equipment, infrastructural
facilities, markets, government
policy consistency and other
institutional supports. There are
the barriers limiting the supply
of Entrepreneurs and therefore
their products.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1
Data Source
The data for this study is
secondary being extracted from
official records of National
Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria via
the Department of Budget,
Planning, Research and
Statistics, Boripe Local
Government Area of Osun State in
Nigeria for the years 2001 and
2010 inclusive (See Appendix A as
attached).
The data collected was analyzed
using simple linear regression
approach as statistical tool. The
methods include obtaining
suitable simple linear regression
model, verifying the degree of
linear relationship between
investment in crop agriculture
and employment, obtaining the
degree of variation in employment
which can be explained by
investment in crop farming.
Scatter Diagram
This is a diagram that shows the
location of points/values of both
dependent and independent
variables on a rectangular
coordinate system. Scatter
Diagram enables us to study the
data and gives more understanding
about the result. The Scatter
Diagram for the data collected
for this study was carefully
drawn by the use of Statistical
Packages for Social Sciences
(SPSS).
Least Square Method of Parameter
Estimation
There are various methods that
can be used to derive/obtain
estimates of parameters of the
regression model/equation.
Ordinary Least Square (OLS) or
Classical Least Square (CLS) is
used to obtain the parameters of
regression model for this study.
The method is simply explained as
follows:
1
Simple Correlation
Simple Correlation is the degree
of relationship that exists
between only two variables where
one is dependent and the other
one is independent. In this
study, employment depends on
investment in crop farming.
Simple Correlation may be linear,
non-linear and/or spurious
(zero). In calculation, the
coefficient of simple correlated
variables fall within the range
of . The closer the
value of to one (1), the
stronger the relationship becomes
and vice-versa.
Also, two variables are
uncorrelated when they tend to
change with no connection to each
other – this is called
zero/spurious correlation.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The table below shows annual data
on investment in crop farming and
the corresponding number of
citizens engaged by crop
agriculture in Nigeria between
the years 2001 and 2010
inclusive.
YEAR INVESTMENT(=N=’000,00
0)
EMPLOYMENT(’000)
2001 62.00 49.00
2002 65.00 53.00
2003 68.00 58.00
2004 71.00 66.00
2005 79.00 68.00
2006 83.00 76.00
2007 94.00 82.00
2008 98.00 84.00
2009 99.00 88.00
2010 103.00 92.00
Source: National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria through Budget,
Planning, Research and Statistics Department, Boripe Local
Government, Osun State, Nigeria.
Drawing of Scatter Diagram
The values of the explanatory
variable ( ) are plotted
against that of the dependent
variable ( ). If all points in
this scatter diagram seem to lie
near a line, then the indication
1
is that there is a linear
relationship between the two
variables involved. Otherwise, we
can conclude that no linear
relationship exists between the
two variables involved. Hereunder
is the scatter diagram:
Estimation of Linear Regression
Model
We shall recall that:
………………..
(*)
This (*) is the expected linear
regression model for which:
represents employment,
represents investment in
crop agriculture.
Therefore, employment is a linear
function of investment, which is
symbolically represented by:
; the linear
regression model is obtained as
follows:
From above, we obtain the model
to be:
Estimation of Simple Correlation
Coefficient
The Simple Correlation
Coefficient between dependent
(employment) and independent
(investment) variables shall be
obtained by the formular below:
1
= 0.984 0.98
Coefficient of Determination
In regression model, we define
Coefficient of Determination
(COD) as the proportion of the
variation in dependent variable
explained by variations in the
explanatory variable. It is
denoted by and computed, from
SPSS, as follows:
= 0.969 0.97
Construction of 95% Confidence
Interval
The table is being extracted from
the application of Statistical
Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS)
on the data collected for this
study:
Model 95% ConfidenceInterval
LowerBound
UpperBound
(Constant)
-19.247 4.162
.823 1.103
*95% Confidence Interval foris:
( is statistically significantat 0.05 level)
Interpretation
The scatter diagram shows that
there is linear relationship
between investment in crop
agriculture and employment in
Nigeria. The model obtained (
) can be
interpreted as follows:
employment rate is expected to
increase by 0.963 (per thousand)
while investment in crop
Model R
RSquare
AdjustedR Square
1 .984a .969 .965
1
agriculture increases by one
million naira. The result
obtained from the estimation of
simple correlation coefficient (
= 0.984 0.98) indicates that
there is 98% positive correlation
between investment in crop
farming and employment in
Nigeria.
This means that the degree of
linear relationship between
investment in crop farming and
employment is approximately 98%,
that is, at 98% level, increase
in the expenditure on crop
farming leads to increase in
employment generation and vice-
versa.
The confidence interval was used
to establish the fact that the
estimated linear regression model
is adequate since none of the
confidence limits (
) passes
through the origin (zero).
The value of the coefficient of
determination ( = 0.969 97%)
is an indication that 97%
variation in employment can be
accounted for by investment in
crop farming in Nigeria between
the years 2001 and 2010
inclusive. The simple explanation
for this is that approximately
97% variation in employment can
be explained by investment in
crop farming- This is to say that
at least 97% Nigerians are
expected to engage in crop
agriculture even if it is
subsistent. A citizen may have
other means of livelihood but
involvement in crop farming
(either commercial or subsistent)
is advisable for every Nigerian.
Even the Government of Nigeria
allows all civil servants to
involve in crop agriculture
alongside civil service with a
view to increasing food
production and reducing poverty.
1
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
One of the cardinal targets of
the government is a general
improvement in living standard of
people which can be assured by a
living income and creation of
jobs. The target has a goal to
enhance the value added to
natural resources through the
application of modern technology
to drive the industrialization
process.
The emphasis on entrepreneurship
is to improve outputs and
encourage job creation with a
view to addressing the challenges
of market globalization. It is a
pity that youths and graduates
who are willing to work cannot
find a job and as such earns
nothing. Entrepreneurship is the
magic wand that can change the
story overtime, but people argued
that lack of capital is what
limits many people who are
unemployed and wants to be self-
reliant and also self-employed.
However, it has been argued that
governments have key roles to
play to ensure that
entrepreneurship is a means of
quelling unemployment thus
creating more employment
opportunities. So far, we
conclude from the analyses that
there exists a strong linear
relationship between employment
and investment in crop farming.
This is an indication that
investment in crop farming has
some things to do with employment
rate in this nation (Nigeria).
Though the data collected covered
only ten years, the results of
all statistical analyses indicate
that as the rate of investment in
crop farming increases,
employment generation also
increases and vice versa; this is
at the rate of 98% level.
We cannot rule out crop farming
in reducing the rate of
unemployment in Nigeria because,
from the computation of
1
coefficient of determination, it
was deduced that in job creation,
crop farming covers 97% (from the
available statistical record-See
Appendix A). Considering the
model obtained:
, let assume
there is no investment in crop
agriculture at all at a
particular year, then the result
will be such that the rate of
employment will be retarding by
7.543 per thousand.
From our findings, therefore, the
following recommendations are
made:
(a) Entrepreneurship should be
recognized as an important
factor of production just
as land (raw materials),
labour and capital, since
it is only entrepreneur
that can combine all the
other factors to produce
wealth. Therefore, as the
nation exerts efforts to
exploit our natural
resources, educate the
citizenry and provide
human and physical
capital, sufficient
emphasis should be made to
promote entrepreneurship
in order to create
enterprises, wealth and
employment and thus
promote positive economic
development.
(b) There should be a process
of a programme geared
towards training youths in
Nigeria in the act of
entrepreneurship.
(c) Relevant knowledge
institutions (knowledge
centres such as
universities,
polytechnics, private
research centres, etc
should establish
entrepreneurship desk to
coordinate linkages
between institutions and
entrepreneurs with a view
1
to enhancing technological
diffusion.
(d) Since Science and
Technology (S &T) cannot
be meaningful to the
economy and society at
large if there is no
entrepreneurship to absorb
and utilize the products
commercially, efforts
should be made to re-
design the national S & T
to strengthen the process
of commercialization of
research and development
outputs.
(e) For a new Africa society
to become a reality, we
must move from a logic of
poverty to a logic of
sustainable development by
building an Appropriate
Human Capacity Base. A
serious capacity building
and change of mentality
are conditions sine qua
non to effectively harness
the opportunity sets in
Africa and turn the rural
sector around to become
productive, efficient and
remunerative.
(f) Lastly, it is believed
that, in some of the
African countries most
especially in Nigeria,
training of youths,
between the ages of
eighteen to forty-eight
group, for crop farming as
well as encouraging them
to start up self-business,
with a view to reducing
poverty in the society,
should be utmost programme
in the political office
holders’ manifesto in
Nigeria. If most of the
unemployed are really
empowered in respect of
crop farming, famine will
completely be eradicated
and the rate of poverty
will reduce. Not only
1
these benefits but also
that the probability of
most citizens being
employed will be 0.98 and
this will surely reduce
social vices.
REFERENCES
Audretsch, David B. (1995):
Innovation and
Industry Evolution, Cambridge,
Mass, MIT Press.
Baumol, W. (1993):
Entrepreneurship and the
Structure of Payoffs, London, MIT
Press.
Binks, M. and Vale, P. (1990):
Entrepreneurship and
Economic Change, London, McGraw
Hill.
Blanchflower, Danny and Bruce
Meyer (1994): “A
Longitudinal Analysis of Young
Entrepreneurs in Australia and
United States” small
business economics, 6(1) 1-20.
Evans, David S. and Linda
Leighton (1990): “Small
Business Formation by Unemployed
and Employed Workers” Small
Business Economics 2(4),
319-330.
Fatunla, G. T. (1989a):
“Entrepreneurship
Development Programme in Nigeria”
International Small Business
Journal, Vol. 7 No 3.
Garofoloi, Gioacchino (1994):
“New Firm Formation and
Regional Development: The
Italian Case”, Regional Studies,
28(4) 381- 394.
Kanothi, Raphael Ngetia (2009):
The Dynamics of
Entrepreneurship in ICT. Case of
Mobile Phones downstream
Services in Kenya. Working
Paper No. 466, Institute of
Social Science, The
Netherlands.
1
Jovanovic, B. (1982): “ Selection
and Evolution of Industry”,
Econometrica, 50, 649-670.
Lauder, D., Bookcock, G. and
Presley, J. (1994): “The
System of Support for SMEs in the
UK and Germany”, European
Business Review, Volume
94 No 14.
Lucas, R. E., (1978), “On the
Size Distribution of
Business Firms”, Bell Journal of
Economics, 9, 508-523.
Oladele, P. O., Akeke, I.,
Oladunjoye, O. (2011):
“Entrepreneurship Development- A
Panacea for Unemployment
Reduction in Nigeria”.
Journal of Emerging Trends in
Economics and Management
Sciences (JETEMS) 2(4); 251-
256 @ Scholarlink Research
Institute Journals.
Oxenfeldt, A. (1943): New Firms
and Free Enterprise,
Washington, D. C. – American
Control on Public Affairs.
Pfeiffer and Reize, F. (2000):
“Business Start-ups by the
Unemployed” An Econometric
Analysis based on Firm Data,
Labour Economics, 7(5),
629-663.
Raimi, L., Adeleke, I. (2010):
“Using Entrepreneurship
Development and Corporate
Social Responsibility as
Strategies for Conflict
Resolution in the Niger-Delta
Region in Nigeria”. (A Paper
presented at the 34th
Annual SPE International
Technical Conference and
Exhibition in Tinapa-Calabar,
Cross Rivers State.
Reynolds, Paul, David, J. Storey
and Paul Westhead (1994):
Gross National Comparisons
of the Variation in New Firm
Formation Rates, “Regional
1
Studies”, 28(4) July 443-
456.
Reynolds, P., Miller, B. and
Maki, W. R. (1995)
“Explaining Regional Variation in
Business Births and
Deaths; US, 1976-1988” Small
Business Economics, 7(5), 389-
707.
Say, J. B. (1845): A Treatise on
Political Economy, 5th ed.
Schumpeter, J. (1934): The Theory
of Economic Development,
Cambridge, Harvard University
Press.