SEC | S20W4: ROLE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ECONOMY

If agriculture is capable of providing food for the nation, I would say that a country that maintains a balanced level of food production could be said to be a growing economy because food is man's basic need and tonnes of a kind of food are consumed every day in the country. That is why countries that have enough to the extent of exporting will generate so much income because food is a want, not a need. It is more important who can live a day without its consumption.

In Nigeria, agriculture plays an important role, though not even investment is made in this as our big men in power have so much of their attention diversified to crude. For years now, the importation of rice has been banned after the discovery of the country's capability to produce enough tonnes that can just be enough to feed the nation. Obstructing this has led to an additional percentage to the gross domestic product, thereby boosting our economy by a little percentage, though another factor seems to retard its growth. Let's delve into the social role of agriculture in the economy.

Food security: In the area of food security and provision, without agriculture, I doubt the impossibility of famine; it has helped a lot, and most time I sit to wonder about the amount of people that consume beans in a day and I imagine where it is gotten from, all thanks to agriculture for ensuring the population has enough to eat.

^{ENOUGH TO EAT THROUGH AGRICULTURE}

Rural development and employment: Our village has enough farmlands, and the government uses this opportunity to utilise this farmland, making room for development and infrastructural implants, thereby providing employment opportunities for youth and creating room for more development.

Industrially

Where do you think the brewing and bread-making industries would have gotten their raw materials from? A bakery is a food processing factory, and its main ingredient is flour; flour is planted as maize and then processed to its powdery form; if maize wasn't planted, flour wouldn't be obtained. The list is almost endless of raw materials produced by agriculture.

Agriculture, as said earlier, contributes to the economy's gross domestic product, and this is also determined by the exports the country can take out.

The role agriculture plays socially and industrially, citing the most grown crop, can be likened to how agriculture has helped reduce poverty and promote rural development.

^{I sell agricultural products like palm fruit to make money}

• It has provided employment opportunities as jobless youth now find something engaging that will boost their income.

• Hunger and malnutrition have been reduced because of the massive production of rice.

• Since the ban of rice importation in Nigeria, it production has increased reducing importation level.

• Due to the implantation of rice in vast community lands, road construction has been made to help in transportation, and other facilities like storage facilities have been constructed, making room for modernisation, development, and community engagement.

^{I process some most times to give me palmoil}

Challenges like the infestation of pests, competition of imported crops, and inadequate infrastructure and agricultural tools for modernisation have so much impact on the economic growth by reducing its contribution to the country's GDP. Even though the importation of rice has been banned, people smuggle rice into the country, and this has risen the competition of foreign rice with the locally made ones. This same case and poor fracture have reduced the jobs available for citizens, and with this also farmers income has reduced and poverty has increased at the same rate.

So far, the past and present governments have laid in place initiatives that have pushed agricultural productivity towards a positive end, and that is well commendable.

I will mention one popular initiative that has improved the type of seed farmers used in cultivating and that has also improved the cassava stem in Nigeria to a popular stem known as give me a chance, a cassava stem capable of bringing out a big tuber of cassava in just 6 months. This is fostered by the initiative known as National Agricultural Seed Council.

Another popular scheme is youth/agriculture empowerment funds. This has helped certified farmers collect funds to improve crop production in the country, and farmers are also given access to fertiliser that can increase yield as well.

In Nigeria, the consistency of the provided initiative can boost agricultural productivity by improving seed quality, providing irrigation systems, especially in a region like the northern part of Nigeria where rain is scarce, providing good fertiliser that will be effective in the soil in a particular region, providing machinery to speed up productivity, and adopting insurance to mitigate climate risk on specific plantations. The truth here is that agriculture needs so much capital if we are willing to see massive production, therefore agricultural financing is necessary.

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