LAUSR

Nigeria has, in the past, tried various rural development strategies to achieve agricultural development and national food security. Among these has been the setting up of farm settlement schemes, marketing boards, the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme, Operation Feed the Nation, the Land Use Decree, etc. These could not achieve much because of various political, economic and social characteristics of the Nigerian population. As a further step, river basin development authorities (RBDAs) were established. The objectives of the RBDAs and their geographical coverage brought the confidence and the possibility of finally achieving the goal of rural transformation. However, like other schemes, the RBDAs are beset with problems which are also inherent in the present economic set‐up of the country, and which would require double the energy spent in the past, to have the RBDAs perform the wonders, which the other strategies have failed to achieve.