The Importance of Agriculture

Food

The primary aim of agriculture is to produce food. Food is the most important factor influencing the standard of living of a nation. The attempt to produce enough food to feed the growing population has led to gigantic strides being made in the scientific development of agriculture, leading to increased food production and better processing and storage of food by the use of machinery and chemicals.

Employment Opportunities

Agriculture provides remuneratiye employment for many people, either directly on the land, in the primary industry, or indirectly in the secondary industries. Where agriculture has been improved it releases labour from the land for employment in industry in the rural areas of west African, and in many other topical countries, agriculture remains the largest employers of labour. The small proportion of people who are engaged in other tropical countries, agriculture remains the largest employers of labour. The small proportion of people who are engaged in other activities such as trade, often do so only as a part time occupation, particularly during the farming slack periods.

3. Provision of Raw Materials for Industries

Agriculture provides the raw material for many and varied industries whose success will depend largely on the adequate and regular supply of good quality agricultural products as raw materials. The European colonial powers tended to exploit their colonies in order to provide the raw materials for their developing industries and most of the agricultural development in those colonies was centered around these crops. In West Africa, the most important agricultural raw materials currently produced are palm oil and palm kernels, cocoa, groundnuts, cotton, rubber, tobacco, cashew nuts, hides and skins. There is also an expanding volume of internal trade in various agricultural commodities, particularly root crops, grains, pulses and livestock although the production of the above product had declined tremendously since 1980s as a result of oil economy.

Development of Industries

The abundance and availability of agricultural raw materials have been a great incentive to the development and mechanization of primary and secondary industries. For example, the use of a hand press increases the rate of expression of pala oil from the fruits. Large mills have been established for more efficient extraction and the improvement in quality

of palm oil, machines for cracking palm nuts to extract the kernels have been introduced into some areas, soap factories, which make use of palm places have also been established. One by-product in the extraction of palm kernel oil is the palm kernel cake, which is used widely, as livestock feed. Small scale industries such as Garri processing, starch making, rice processing and cloth making industries have also been established as a result of availability of raw material in the areas they are cited. There are many examples of such agro-based industries established.

Income

Among the peasant communities, the farmer sells any food that is in excess of the requirements of the family. The medium of exchange varies from batter to cash. When there is increased demand for large quantities of produce, the farmer will receive higher income for a quantity of produce, the farmer will receive higher income and as a result will be able to provide luxuries, as well as necessities for his family. Any rise in personal income also increases the purchasing power of the farmer and raises the general standard of his living.

Contribution of Agriculture to National Economy

Nigeria has before independence in 1960 and during early independence, enjoyed a thriving agrarian economy. The growth rate in agricultural production had an edge over population growth and seemed salutary, with the FAO projecting food surpluses in Nigeria for the 1970s. The food surpluses never happened as predicted essentially because the euphoria of the oil boom inadvertently transformed into oil doom for agriculture within the period (ASiegbu 2000). Revenue is derived from government sales of produce or by-products, export duties and taxes on agriculturally supported industries. With ample revenue, the government will be able to provide the people with basic social amenities such as medical services, education, roads, communications, transport, radio/television services and recreational facilities. All these contribute towards raising the standard of living of the nation generally. But the prospect of raising and maintaining the national income largely depends on producing the best quality exportable produce and the possibilities of developing new industries. Thus, the national spending is dependent on the total national revenue per annum because before any country embarks on any national services or development programme, it should know it's cumulative revenue from all sources i.e. it's national income. The national income is expressed in Gross Domestic product (GDP) during a specific period. The GDP is the value of commodities produced and the services performed by country expressed in terms of cash; simply stated, it is the sum of the products (commodities and services) available for consumption of for addition to the stock capital. Prior to independence in 1960, agriculture contributed 70% of Nigeria's Gross Domestic product (GDP) and by 1966, it contributed only 55%

and contribution has been on the downward spiral (Asiegbu 2000). The national income is derived from the following sources:

1.Agriculture, fisheries and forestry 2.Transport and communications 3.Construction and civil engineering 4.Manufacturing and craft industries
5.Minerals (mining including oil exploration and prospecting for minerals)
6.Governments.

The per-capita income is very low in Nigeria compared with the developed countries

However important agriculture may be in the national economy, it is still at the subsistence level. Within the past few decades, there has been a general rise in the standard of living and thus in consumption at individual and governmental levels. More goods had been imported, but all these import have to be balanced by the country's exports.

Since 1958, the value of imports has been rising much higher than that of exports, and this had led to unfavourable trade balances. This situation is to some extent inevitable in any developing country, where all the heavy equipment required for capital development has to be imported and paid for with long term loans or credit. Since Nigeria has not yet developed any large-scale industries, a stable economy will depend upon an expansion in exports. This has led to government action on banning the importation of unnecessary luxurious goods. Though, oil exports eventually became the most important source of national revenue for Nigeria, it is still believed that the mainstay of the economy of the country will be agriculture since agricultural progress is a preliminary step to industrial development because in many circumstances, rising agricultural productivity supports and sustains industrial development

The main export crops include, palm oil, palm kernel, coca, rubber, groundnuts, cotton, Soya beans, beni-seed, bananas, and plantain, cashew nuts, hides and skins since other countries produce these crops, the amount Nigeria exports will depend on the quality of the crop and the world demand for these crops. The main food crops of the people are yams, cassava, coco-yams, potatoes, maize, guinea corn, millet, rice, beans and peas. The production of these crops are virtually in the hands of the peasant farmers.

It has been observed that the population is increasing rapidly, the agricultural productivity could be increased also by increasing the number of hectares under cultivation and the total output per hectare could be increased by the application of improved agricultural methods, the use of improved planting materials, the appropriate application of fertilizers and pesticides and the keeping of improved breeds of livestock.