Some of the salient reasons for the ineffectiveness of the various efforts aimed at achieving food security in Nigeria include (Mohammed, 2006):
- Policy inconsistency and administrative dislocations of the federal departments in charge of the various programmes.
- Inability to sustain funding of the programmes.
- Instability of the research institutes due to their constant movement among ministries and poor funding.
- Unnecessary political interference and managerial problems, resulting from socioeconomic cleavages, which permeated the nation’s sociopolitical, economic, and cultural institutions.
- Lack of qualified manpower to provide effective leadership for the various programs.
- Lack of continuity and shifts in approach by successive governments.
- Poor funding and lack of institutional arrangements for implementation.
- Lack of funds and commitment limiting the extent of infrastructural provision in the rural areas.
- Government infrastructural programmes embarked upon without effective planning or institutional arrangements for their execution and continuity.
Generally, structures are in place set up in a manner to get results, but that implementation is slow and lacks a focus to drive it along.