Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.6, No.5 Publication Date: May. 25, 2019 DoI:10.14738/assrj.65.6485. Okwuwa, C. O. (2019). The Imparative Of Repositioning Nigeria’s Development Initiative Through Agriculture, The Neglected Path. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 6(5) 250-264. Copyright © Society for Science and Education, United Kingdom 250 The Imparative Of Repositioning Nigeria’s Development Initiative Through Agriculture, The Neglected Path Dr. Charles Onuora Okwuwa Department of Sociology Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Niger State, Nigeria ABSTRACT Through series of age-long interactions and experimentations, agricultural production with its associated technologies, has always been the pivot for rural and general socio- economic development. By implication, at least among the Third World countries, agriculture, among other sectors and depending on how it is managed, addresses poverty and unemployment challenges. Since antiquity, Nigeria has practiced agriculture, yet rising food insecurity, unemployment, poverty and stagnated development prevail. These are reversible with adoption of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015). The challenge to social science prompted this empirical research in Lapai community with the aim of interrogating Nigeria’s agricultural practices, issues and prospects towards widening fact based knowledge for enhanced and beneficial agricultural production. The research relied on both quantitative and qualitative methods and generated data from famers in the locality. Among the findings are that systemic exclusive governance and associated impunity, waste, and leadership failure, among others, stagnate agricultural production, grow poverty, unemployment and socio-economic development crisis. Respondents identify government and culture as the sources of the country’s failure in agricultural production and related socio- economic problems and also hold the view that these forces should lead the deconstruction of the problem. Respondents view grassroots attention to farmers as key in developing Nigeria. Among the recommendations are strategic inclusiveness of farmers and all stakeholders in agricultural planning and implementation, liberalized extension services to farmers including financing, training, tools and seedlings. Key words: Poverty, inclusion, natural resources, training, food security INTRODUCTION Agricultural practice is a worldwide set of economic activities geared towards food production and other value chain derivatives for human survival. It has metamorphosed into various developmental stages and technologies. The Neolithic revolution, sometimes called Agricultural Revolution, was the widespread transition, beginning about 12,000 years ago, of human societies from lifestyles based on foraging to lifestyles based on farming and herding (Kotak, 2015). Hitherto, man lived for millions of years surviving on hunting and gathering in a world of extreme cold climate and life threats from wild animals and savages, contrasting modern day relative safety derived from national and international statutes. Shift from foraging to food production was gradual as both technologies existed side by side, at least initially. Food production heralded sedentary life and assurance of food security from expected harvests, after planting. Smith (2018) argues that for more than a million years, our distant ancestors were hunter-gathers, relying exclusively on gathering wild plants and hunting wild animals for food. He observes further that over a span of only five millennia, from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago, dramatic changes took place in this long standing way of life, as many human societies, in different parts of the world domesticated a variety of plants and