The Reasons Agriculture is Important
Why is agriculture important? The concept of ‘food security’ is fundamentally important, and for that reason, agriculture is important. The task of feeding its people has been perhaps the first priority of its rulers throughout history. As such, agriculture is considered to be the very basis of political and social stability of a nation since times immemorial.
Moreover, the agricultural sector plays an important role in the sphere of providing large scale employment to people. Large and moderately large farms employ workers to undertake the various jobs relating to cultivation of crops and care of farm animals. In most of the countries of the world, agriculture still remains the biggest sector responsible for the employing and feeding a large percentage of the population.
Agriculture is also important from the point of view of appraising the standard of a country’s development, based on the competence of its farmers. Poorly trained farmers cannot apply the advanced methods and new technologies. The prominence of science and technology in the development of agriculture is quite clear from the words of Deng Xiaoping -
The Many Faces of Agriculture
Agriculture is a very important activity for the survival of human beings on this earth. This is clearly reflected in the very basic fact that agriculture is one of the oldest activities of humankind. The term ‘agriculture’ includes both the cultivation of crops and the domestication of animals.
As the most profound resource, agriculture provides food, clothing and shelter to us. With the spread of knowledge of the most advanced implements, there has been immense progress in the spread of agriculture, as well as agricultural output. The use of agricultural machinery, scientific methods of farming and diversification of crops have improved the overall production of agricultural crops the world over.
The study of agriculture is important because it has been classified into different agricultural types, each with its unique characteristic features. These varied types are:-
Low-Chem Agricultural Products for Sustainable Farming Should Be More Widely Available
Much has been written about the need to resist currency wars, protectionism and trade wars in the current global economic crisis but it is more than a debate between economists and politicians.
Protectionism is a mechanism by which governments use measures like import tariffs (taxes) and import quotas to restrict goods coming in from overseas and protect local jobs and locally-produced products in times of economic difficulty. However in a global economy the repercussions of one country’s protective actions can be increased poverty and starvation in another part of the world.
The independent non-profit organisation, the Fairtrade Foundation, which campaigns for greater equity in international trade recently highlighted the impact of US and European “protection” of their cotton production on cotton farmers in Africa.
