ABSTRACT

The objective of the study is to evaluate inflation and food crop production in Nigeria. Secondary data was used in this study and was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. Data was collected on the output of major agricultural commodities (staples), weather condition proxied by average animal rainfall, government capital allocation to agriculture, land area harvested tinder food crop production; government policy regime (SAP), total fertilizer use, time trend variable and consumer price index were collected from 1970 to 2000. The ordinary least square regression techniques was used to estimate the determinant of food crop production in Nigeria and graph was used to examine the trend in inflation and consumer food price index. The result reveals that fertilizer uses, consumer price, average annual rain fall, government p61 icy regime were significant factor that explained the determinant of food crop production. The regression techniques was used to estimate the growth rate of output in Nigeria. The result reveals that the estimated trend equation for out has the coefficient of the time trend to be positive and highly significant with respect to output indicating significant increase (growth) in the output with. The estimated quadratic equations in time variable for output was also had positive value of the coefficient o t2for output which is a confirmation of statistical significant acceleration in output. Based on the findings, it is recommended that government should increase substantially its investment in the agricultural sector and provide enough incentive to boost food crop production on in the country.