Prospects of Agriculture Enterprise for Sustainable Economic Development: Success Story of University of Ilorin Moringa Value-Addition Activities

The exacerbated spate of poverty and youth unemployment in Africa is greatly disturbing. While agriculture portends prospect for employment creation and poverty reduction, interest towards optimizing the benefits appears grossly divided. Subsequently, the critical mass, in terms of commitment and investment, needed to positively engineer the commercialization of the sector has not been reached. Recently, concerted academic research on Moringa oleifera has ignited rekindled interest on the array of opportunities from Moringa value addition development. The purpose of this study is to show case the prospects of Moringa value addition in tackling the problem of unemployment and poverty. Secondary data on published figures of the processing and production cost, sales record of University of Ilorin Moringa Plantation and capital requirements of commercial banks in Nigeria were used. Result indicate that on a per hectare basis, the estimated profit is N828,640 (N186/plant/annum). Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the economic benefits in terms of employment generation vis-à-vis capital asset worth indicate that for every ₦73 million capital base, the Moringa value addition project can recruit 53 workers, while a worker will be recruited by an average Nigerian bank with the same amount. This study concludes by recommending the replication of the Moringa value addition success story in similar climes in Africa and the formulation of sound policy on Moringa value addition based on viable and practical consideration that would fast-track the development of a sustainable agriculture.