"SEC | S20W4: "ROLE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ECONOMY"

Greetings and welcome to my blog. I must say that going through the lessons on this engagement challenge in Agriculture has opened my eyes to a lot of things. Am glad to participate in this weeks challenge. Here’s my homework.

Designed on Canva

Explain the social and industrial roles of agriculture in your country, sighting one of the main grown crop.

Agricultural sector in my country has served as a very important sector and it’s social and industrial roles cannot be over emphasized.

There are many crops which are grown in my country and they include maize, yam, rice, beans, coco yam, cocoa and etc. Of these crops, one of the main grown is cassava.

Agriculture has planned great social and industrial roles and some of them includes:

• Basically agriculture provides food for Nigerians and having food to eat increases our well being.

• Some of the industries depend on agriculture to provide raw materials for their usage such as cotton, sugar cane, palm produce, lumber and etc.

• The produce gotten from agriculture serve as export materials such as rubber, cotton hence earning foreign exchange for the country.

• Agriculture serves as a means of internal revenue for the government and for farmers.

• Farmers buys industrial goods such as tractors, hoes, fertilizers and these creates a market for industrial outputs.

• Agriculture provides balance for our ecosystem through provision of food for humans, shelter for animals and helps to restore areas that are degraded and regulate our water resources.

• Agriculture helps to maintain social order in the society through interdependence on each other for food and other basic amenities, this fosters a sense of responsibility and decorum in the society which otherwise would have led to the destruction of social order. It brings us together to work together to get food and be sustained.

How has this main grown agriproduct helped in reducing poverty and as well promote rural development in your country?

Cassava is one of the main grown crops in my country, some of the ways it has helped in reducing poverty and promoting rural development includes;

• Cassava as a main crop can be farmed round the year and it fits into small scale farming for most farmers hence is provided food security all year round for households.

• Cassava stand out as very important amongst all the tropical root crops and the staple crops cos of its high produce of carbohydrates which is a major source of energy in diets for over five hundred million people.

• Cassava planting and processing creates job for its processors and farmers thereby increasing incomes and employment opportunities especially in rural areas.

• Cassava has led to industrialization in some rural areas because Cassava roots are not only used as food but very important to industries as they used for raw materials.

• These established industries that makes use of the raw material from cassava also serve as a means to create employment for indigenous people in the localities.

What are the main challenges facing your country's top crops (e.g., cocoa, palm, maize, wheat, rice, etc.) in terms of economic impact?

Source

The production of major crops in the country have some challenges which affect their economic impact and they include;

• Change in climatic conditions
• Poor land tenure systems
• Land degradations
• Low irrigation level in farming
• High cost of Production
• Low technology
• Lack of financing and etc

What current or past government initiatives are boosting agricultural productivity in your country?"

The Nigerian government has put out several initiatives to boost agricultural productivity in my country and some of the initiatives amongst others includes:

• Agricultural promotion policy (APP)
• Action against desertification (AAD)
• Nigeria–Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme
• Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP)
• Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative
• Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)
• Economic and Export Promotion Incentives and the Zero Reject Initiative and etc.
  Source

What solutions can enhance agricultural productivity and growth in your country?

Source

Agricultural productivity in my country can be enhanced by:

• Improving fertilizer use and making it readily available through subsidizing its price.

• Conducting soil fertility tests regularly to improve soil quality for improved yield.

• Improving irrigation system so as to solve the problem of irregular rainfall to ensure continuous supply of farm foods.

• Availability of good roads and better transport system for easy accessibility and sales of farm produce.

• Making available new farm tools and technological advanced machines for improved productivity.

• Government can make provisions for agriculture education, schemes and programs to educate farmers on key ways to take care of the crops and this would make for increased productivity.

• Government should make lands readily available for farmers for large scale farming.

These and many more are ways through which agricultural growth and productivity can be enhanced.

Thank you for reading through. I ask @divinelife, @ngozi996 and @favourhyacinth to participate in this engagement challenge.