AGRIBUSINESS: POTENTIALS FOR CRIME PREVENTION

Abstract

Agribusiness is one of the major sources of livelihood to many people around the world. There is a common parlance that prevention is better than cure. It is cheaper and safer to prevent crime than controlling, treating, and curing it. The general objective of the paper is to interrogate the nexus between agribusiness and crime prevention. Specific objectives include: to examine the challenges facing agribusiness, to identify the importance of agribusiness, to ascertain the myths associated with agribusiness in Nigeria and to examine the various strategies of crime prevention. The paper used secondary source of data and Frustration/Aggression theory as the theoretical framework. The study found that there are various strategies and types of crime prevention. How does agribusiness constitute a strategy for crime prevention? The answer is not farfetched. Of all strategies of crime prevention, it is crime prevention through social development and corrective crime prevention that make agribusiness a strategy for crime prevention. These two strategies of crime prevention advocated for the alleviation of causes of crime as the only sure way of preventing crime. They identified poverty and unemployment as major causes of crime, and that the only way to prevent crime is to put up measures to reduce poverty and unemployment. These are some of the major opportunities that agribusiness provides as demonstrated in the study. The paper recommends that, agribusiness should be prioritized in order to prevent or reduce crime. Other recommendations include: sound policies on agribusiness, public enlightenment on the myths associated with agribusiness, and public education on the importance of agribusiness to national economy of the nation.