10 Importance of Agriculture to Every Society

Agriculture is the process by which land is used in growing crops such as seeds and tubers, or rearing animals. As far as the well-being and survival of human beings are concerned, Agriculture is very essential. The simple reason is because it is Agriculture that provides us with food, raw materials for industry, and even jobs. In order to bring this to light, this post is going to explore 10 importance of Agriculture to the society.

Types of Agriculture/Farming Methods

There are different types of agricultural or farming methods today. These include crop rotation, bush fallowing, shifting cultivation, animal husbandry — poultry, rearing of sheep, cattle and goats.

All of the different agricultural or farming methods are deployed just to produce food for human diet, produce raw materials for the industries, create employment and products for export.

In the following section, we are going to look more closely at the importance of Agriculture to the society.

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10 Importance of Agriculture to the Society

Here, we are going to provide a reference material for students researching on the importance of Agriculture to the society.

If you are researching on this subjects for an assignment, essay or points to support your stance in a debate, you are on the right page.

Here are the 10 importance of agriculture to every society:

1. National Food Security

Most nations of the world are developing and their population is fast growing. There is need for large quantity of food to support the growing population. Otherwise, there will be scarcity of food and people will begin to die of hunger and starvation.

Food importation alone cannot guarantee the food security of any nation. This underscores the importance of Agriculture to any people.

2. Agriculture Fosters a Healthy Nation

Human beings need vitamins, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and other food nutrients for growth and repair of worn out tissues in their bodies. These engender healthy and good living.

But these essential food nutrients are obtained from Agricultural products like milk, meat, eggs, yam, rice, and so on.

3. Provision of Raw Materials and Resources

Agriculture provides us with raw materials and resources for industries. For example, materials for building houses and utensils for eating and drinking can be produced from the bones and horns of animals.

More so, the wool for the textile industry, the hides and skin for the leather industry, the wood for the furniture industry, and lots more, are products of Agriculture.

In other words, industries would have been in lack of basic raw materials if there were no farmers making agricultural products available in terms of raw materials.

4. Poverty Alleviation

This is especially true in developing countries where a large chunk of the population depends on farming for their livelihoods.

In such countries, Agriculture provides employment and income opportunities for the people. By so doing, it helps to alleviate poverty and bring up the people’s standard of living.

5. Boosts the Economic Growth of the Nation

Farmers sell some of their products in the markets. For example, they may sell their cassava, yams, fruits, and vegetables in the food market.

With the money they earn, they can buy other things which they cannot produce from their farms. Clothes, plates, cups, spoons, and medicines are some of the things they can buy. They can also pay taxes to the government and school fees for their children.

From the money farmers earn, they can contribute towards community developments like building of schools where students learn, construction of roads for good transport, building of hospitals to provide healthcare, places of worship, and markets.

6. A Good Source of Foreign Exchange

This further shows the importance of Agriculture in fostering the economic growth of a nation. Agriculture is a veritable source of foreign exchange. Agricultural products may be exported to other countries in international trades.

For example, several years ago, Nigeria was a major exporter of agricultural products like groundnuts, cocoa, palm oil and kernels. The money got from the trades helped very much in the development of infrastructure in the country.

Today, Ukraine is one of the highest exporters of grain in the whole world. That has been their major sustainer despite the several challenges rocking the country.

7. Reduces the Rate of Unemployment

Agriculture plays a vital role in reducing the unemployment rate in a nation by providing job opportunities at different points in the value chain.

Agriculture provides employment to the manufacturers of farm implements and machines. It also provides jobs to the operators and those who service the implements. They farmers, transporters and those who process the farm produce are all employees at difference points of the agricultural value chain.

Without Agriculture, the rate of unemployment in different nations of the world would have been alarming.

8. Rural Development

In most nations of the world, Agriculture is done in rural communities. There, thousands of rural dwellers are into one form of Agriculture or the other as their means of livelihood.

So Agriculture is the backbone of the economies of rural communities and attracts developments such as access roads, electricity, pipe borne water e.t.c

9. Agriculture Conserves the Environment

Good agricultural practices like crop rotation, bush fallowing, shifting cultivation, and forestation can help to conserve natural resources such as soil, water, and biodiversity. This, in turn, help to combat climate change and engender environmental sustainability.

10. Agriculture Feeds Animals

Although animal husbandry is an integral part of agriculture, we can safely include this point as one of the importance of Agriculture.

Farmers who are into livestock production (example cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, etc) need feed for their animals. Agriculture produces crops like corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, which serve as essential feed for these livestock. In addition, it produces hay which are dried grass or legumes used as feed for livestock during winter or periods of low forage availability.

Conclusion

The importance of agriculture is simply multifaceted. It is very significant for human survival and well-being, rural development, economic prosperity, and much more.

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