Contest| "Living in the Agricultural World #3"

The importance of the agricultural sector in our countries cannot be overrated. Today, due to economic situations all over the world, everyone's attention has been shifted to farming and food production in order to cope with food shortages.

^{Design with Canva}

Most times, we use the words side by side without spotting a clear difference between the two. To my understanding, farming is a branch of agriculture which has to do with cultivation of the soil and rearing of animals, while agriculture involves a wider aspect. It consists of cultivation of crops, rearing of animals, production of farm products, which includes manufacturing of some farm products like chemicals, fertilisers etc. It also involves packaging of agricultural products such as the use of cans. For instance, where corn and tomatoes are processed and packaged neatly for sale in the market.

Particularly in my country, Nigeria, farmers are faced with some challenges such as:

• Lack of access to funds e.g loans/grants to extend and buy farm implements.

• Lack of machines to facilitate their jobs

• Insecurity for farmers, especially in northern Nigeria where farmers are being killed by bandits

• Lack of storage facilities for large scale farming

• Effects of natural disasters such as flood incidents are a big threat to farmers and their crops.

link

The use of Global Positioning System (GPS). I used to hear about GPS in surveying because my husband is a surveyor. He has been mentioning this every time and so, I was curious to know about GPS. He said it used to get an actual land precision.
In my recent research, I bumped into GPS and drones being used by farmers to ascertain the boundaries of the farm, which will enable farmers to apply fertilisers and other chemicals at the right place to prevent wastages.

It is on this community's engagement challenge that I got to read about drones in agriculture.
And I was amazed by the findings that it helps in taking detailed data on crop health, helps in spraying seeds and chemicals and many other things it does. I think this is a nice innovation in agriculture recently.

I can still remember the importance of agriculture that was taught in my secondary school. They are as follows:

1. Agriculture is important for the production of food.

2. Provision of employment for people

3. It provides raw materials for industries, e.g, palm fruits and the kennel have a lot uses. Oil for cooking and for soap/cream making.

4. It contributes to a nation's economy.

5. Agriculture produces fruits and vegetables which have contributed to the well-being of humans.

A society without a strong agriculture is a society that is driven to lack and hunger.

Cc;
@ninapenda

I love to invite
@chilaw
@patudoh
@realitytrend