Abstract
The rising rate of the population in Nigeria has brought with it some problems. The principal problems among these include hunger and malnutrition. Hence, it has become highly imperative to develop the agriculture sector in the country. Although agriculture is the primary employment of most of the population, this has not translated into an increase in the sector's productive capacity. This is because agriculture is majorly practised with the use of traditional equipment. Hence, the need to adopt modern technologies cannot be overemphasized as it improves the sector's productive capacity. One crucial modern technology which has recently gained application in the agriculture sector, especially in Nigeria, is industry 4.0 technology. Therefore, this study examines the impact of industry 4.0 technologies on agricultural sector performance in Nigeria.
A quasi-experimental research design was adopted using qualitative and quantitative data for the study. The qualitative data was collected through focus group discussions organized in four states. Also, the quantitative data was collected from 306 respondents across the study areas. A logit regression model was used to examine the factors that determine the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies by the respondents. The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) model and Endogenous Treatment Effect Regression Model were used for the impact analysis, as the case may be. For other objectives, descriptive statistics were used.
The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 20% reduction in sales for farmers. Approximately 18% could not perform their farming activities or run their agribusiness enterprises due to the lockdown measures implemented during the pandemic. Also, the results show that the factors that determine the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies in agriculture are: farm size (P-value < 5%), the experience of the farmers (P-value < 1%), partnership (P-value < 5%), access to extension service (P-value < 1%), years of formal education (P-value < 5%), group membership (P-value < 5%), household size (P-value < 1%), perception of technology (P-value < 1%), and insurance (P-value < 5%). Furthermore, it was revealed that adopting industry 4.0 technologies positively impacted agricultural outputs, farm income, and profits. However, no significant impact of industry 4.0 technology adoption was found on employment generation (P-value > 5%), indicating that technology adoption did not negatively affect employment generation.
In conclusion, industry 4.0 technology adoption does not reduce employment generation in agriculture. Therefore, it is recommended that the government make deliberate efforts to
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increase awareness about the benefits of industry 4.0 technology adoption for agricultural purposes in Nigeria.
Keywords: Agriculture, Industry 4.0 technology, Nigeria, Impact analysis, Propensity Score Matching, Performance.