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

Hello Steemians, welcome to my post, and stay safe as you read through this post.

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

Freepik

In Nigeria, the role that agriculture plays in social and industrial sector are highly important. Due to how the economy of Nigeria is today millions of people are now keying into the agriculture sector as it is vital for survival farmers are now seen as the people that eat well, hahahah it bit joke for you to laugh.

Well despite the little joke above, we all have been seeing how agriculture supports rural communities, sustains cultural practices, provides food and employment, and still acts as the backbone for industry through the provisions (supply) of raw materials in Nigeria.

For example in Nigeria, cassava, rice, beans, maize, yam palm oil, etc is the major agricultural products that are grown in Nigeria. Socially these are foods that they cultivate that support the livelihood of people living in rural areas in Nigeria. Community. States and families depend on these foods for income and substances for survival.

Freepik

In terms of industrial roles maize is very important in industries that are into food processing as such types of industries use maize to produce animal feed, oil, and flour. To put everything in summary, agriculture through farm products like maize and others bridges industrial growth and social needs in Nigeria by ensuring food security, stability, and development of Nigeria's economic development.

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

Well, I will talk about maize here as it is an agriproduct that is highly produced across Nigeria. Maize as the main grown agriproduct, has significantly helped in reducing poverty and as well promote rural development in Nigeria through some of the ways shared below.

• Income generation:
  In Nigeria, we have thousands of maize farmers that have helped to provide both direct and indirect jobs. Many people especially those in rural areas depend on the cultivation of maize for survival as it is their main source of income which has helped to reduce poverty in Nigeria.

• Food security:
  As it is a staple food it has helped rural communities to have access to affordable nutrition which has helped to combat malnutrition and hunger in Nigeria. With maize farming farmers across Nigeria have been able to grow their food and surplus for the market supply.

• Value Chain Development:
  With the production of maize, a broad range of industries such as food processing for livestock, mining, biofuel industry, feed production, and so on has helped to create employment opportunities in Nigeria.

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

Freepik

There are many challenges facing Nigeria's top crops (e.g., cocoa, palm, maize, wheat, rice, etc) which impact productivity and in turn impact Nigeria's economy. The greatest challenge of all challenges is insecurity where farmers most especially those in the northern part of Nigeria can't go to their farms peacefully which has affected the production of Nigeria's top crops. However, besides insecurity, other challenges are;

• Poor tenure system
• Low level of irrigation farming
• Land degradation
• Climate change
• Low technology
• High production cost
• Poor distribution of input.

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

The government's efforts towards boosting agricultural productivity in Nigeria include building infrastructure such as irrigation, markets, and roads for agricultural products in Nigeria. Also, the past government encourages the improvement of farmers through the supply of fertilizers and the provision of crops through farmers' organizations and groups.

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

The solution that enhances agricultural productivity and growth in Nigeria is security. Farmers are faced with the issue of insecurity whereby herdsmen usually trouble farmers in the northern part of Nigeria whereas, in other parts of Nigeria, the issue of animals like cows damaging farmers' crops has been an issue in terms of productivity and growth which the government can provide security and fertilizers agricultural productivity and growth can be improved.

I am inviting: @kouba01, @dove11, and @simonnwigwe,

Cc:-
@xkool24