Ecological Intensification for Sustainable Agriculture: The Nigerian Perspective 15 L. N. Muoghalu and A. O. Akanwa Abstract Nigeria has vast potential resources such as land, water and large population that can be utilized for maximum agricultural production to combat its food insecurity and malnutrition challenges. It is estimated that over 70% of the total land area covering 68 Mha (million hectares) can be employed for agricultural production, while only 33 Mha is used for cultivation. Also, of the estimated 3.14 Mha irrigable land, only about 220,000 ha or 7% is engaged coupled with the ecologi- cal diversity that can support a large community of livestock. It also has a surface and underground water of about 267.7 billion m 3 and 57.9 billion m 3 , respec- tively, and over 70% of the population of 200.9 million people are participants in the agricultural sector. All these have contributed to the Nigerian economy in terms of food supply, a national food market, employment, national income generation, livelihoods and industrialization. Agriculture in Nigeria employs approximately 26 million people; more than 80% of the population are involved in small scaled farms that represent half of all jobs accounting for 20% of Nigeria’s gross domestic products (GDP). In Nigeria, sustainable agricultural production has been a priority in the policy implementation all in a bid to overcome the general persistent problems of food shortages, insecurity and malnutrition. However, agricultural productivity has been constrained by a range of setbacks in Nigeria, which include but not limited to climate change, youth unemployment and poor policy implementation and consistency, lack of education, inadequate agri-digitalization, poor farming practices, finance, lack of mechanized agriculture among others. The agricultural sector has been grossly affected by climate change as seen in its glaring consequences such as droughts, floods, invasion of pests and diseases. It is on account of these recognizable huge L. N. Muoghalu · A. O. Akanwa (*) Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Uli, Anambra, Nigeria # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. K. Jhariya et al. (eds.), Ecological Intensification of Natural Resources for Sustainable Agriculture, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4203-3_15 521