Trends in Development Activities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Anambra State, Nigeria

The study examined trends in development activities of the Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development between 1991 and 2013. The study identified the trends in policy and programme initiation, staff recruitment and development, and funding, in the ministry. It employed secondary data through records, documents and annual reports. Results show variation in the percentages of programme initiated and implemented within each year between 1991 and 2013. The ministry did not participate in formulating policies in 46% of the programmes implemented in the state. However, 46% of all the programmes initiated had been concluded, while 54% of all the programmes initiated in the state are still active. The results showed that a total of 403 staff were recruited within the period into the various departments, with the highest number of recruitment (252) occurring between 1991-and 1995 and the least (22) took place from 2006 to 2010. The majority (91) of staff recruited had the ordinary national diploma (OND) and only 30 and 3 persons had the bachelor of science and doctor of philosophy, respectively. The trend in the funding pattern dwindled over time. Out of the five listed human capacity building programmes, staff trainings were organised only between 1991-1995 and 1996-2000). There is need for a change in government commitment to agriculture in the area of funding, human resource and policy as these are key drivers of development. Government should increase the proportion of manpower and create adequate opportunity for training and development of staff of the ministry. Keywords: Policy and programmes of the ministry of agriculture, funding of ministry of agriculture, staff recruitment and capacity building.