AGRICULTURE

Agriculture to a laneman simply means food production, but the term agriculture literally implies field cultivation and production of livestock.

      

Agriculture can be defined as the science and act of cultivating the soil,be production, management of crops and livestock, preparation and processing of their products and by-products for man's use and other purposes.

      

Agriculture is simply the act and science that deals with production of crops and rearing of animals for man's use, it can also be seen as tilling of the soil to produce.

      

Types of agriculture.

There are two major types of agriculture namely:

1. Subsistence agriculture

This is a system of farming whereby a farmer cultivates crops and rear animals in order to provide food for himself and his family. 

     

In crop production, a subsistence farmer concentrates on arable food crops such as yam, cassava, maize, millet, groundnut and so on. A subsistence farmer can also establish plantation where he may plant crops such as oil palm, cocoa, rubber, banana, citrus tree and so on.

    

In livestock production, subsistence farmers rear goats, sheep, rabbits, dogs, pigs, fowls and so on for their personal consumption and for small unit sales.

  

Characteristics of subsistence agriculture.

1. Labour is provided by the farmer and his family members.

2. Crude implements such as cutlass, hoe, digger, basket are useful by subsistence farmers.

3. The farmer cultivates on small areas of land.

4. The farm produce is mainly for the family with little for sale.

5. The subsistence farmer practises mixed cropping.

Problems of subsistence agriculture.

a. Subsistence farmers use crude implement. These tools leads to low productivity.

b. Most subsistence farmers find it difficult to adopt new farming techniques because they are illiterate. They have no formal education.

c. They use family labour which is not reliable.

d. The output of subsistence farming is usually very low.

e. Most subsistence farmers are poor.

     Commercial or mechanised agriculture.

This is a system of agriculture whereby farmers or companies produce crops and agricultural materials on a large scale through the use of machines for the purpose of selling.

Characteristics of commercial agriculture.

1. Large area of farm land is required.

2. It is very expensive to practise.

3. It requires the use of mechanised  machines like tractors, cultivator, plough, planter etc.

4. Labour is mechanical and not manual.

5. It involves a lot of research into various aspects of production.

Problems or disadvantages of commercial farming.

a. Commercial farming may lead to unemployment because most of the farming operations are mechanised.

b. It can lead to pollution. The use of machines to perform most of the farm operations can lead to environmental pollution as a result of noise and smoke emitting from the engines.

c. It is very expensive to operates. The machines are imported and are very expensive to purchase.

Farming system

1. Mixed cropping: This is the system of farming where a farmer cultivates more than one crops on a piece of land. For example, maize and yam, maize and cassava, etc.

2. Mixed farming: This is the system of farming where a farmer cultivates crops and rear farm animals on the same piece of land.

3. Forestry: This is the system of establishing forest and managing its resources such as timber, wild animals

4. Fish ponds raising: This is the system of farming where farmer raises different species of fishes in a pond.




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