AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The most basic contribution of agriculture to economy is, the supply of foodstuff to the populance, and the provision of employment and the means of livelihood. But beyond these, agriculture also provides raw materials for industry and contributes to the improvement of the nation's foreign exchange through export as well as savings in import.
The issue that people must address themselves, is the role agriculture should play in relation to the other sectors of the economy. In developing agriculture, a nation has several options to follow. It may stress the role of agriculture as an important instrument for sustaining expansion in the non agricultural sector of the economy. A nation can stress agricultural development because it can yield huge sum of money in foreign exchange or because it can absorb abundant cheap labour. Therefore, any country that wants to use agriculture to develop its economy must understand these options before setting up strategies for implementing agricultural policies. Development economist now seem to agree that there are no inherent advantages of manufacturing over agriculture or for that matter, of agriculture over manufacturing. Decisions on the balance of in any development situation should be based on rational grounds in the light of considerations of cost and comparative returns from alternative allocation of national material and human resources. But such decisions should not be based on maxims or arbitrary dogmas and prejudices.

Farmers face certain problems in their march towards self sufficiency in agricultural production. Some farmers are frustrated by the lack of storage facilities for most of their perishable products. Also, they have to put up with inadequate market outlet,or else farmee can be assured of adequate benefits from their labour in the form of enhanced incomes, they will be much discouraged and their efforts towards higher productivity will seem pointless. These problems appear to have come to a head with the recent death of the ineffective commodity boards.

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READING AND UNDERSTANDING

All reading is geared to understanding. There would be no point in reading if we did not understand what we are reading. However there are many different obstacles in the way of easy understanding of a passage. It is your task as a reader to actively seek to break down the barriers to understanding. One block to understanding is caused by references in the passage to things that are outside it. Pronoun are the first examples of words that refer to people and objects. Sometimes, it is easy to follow the reference at other times, it is more difficult. Look at the opening sentence of the passage you've just read that begins this way "She was waiting for us:small, dowdy, dirty..." Who was waiting? Who was the person waiting for? (Perhaps you would also like to know why she was waiting.)Answers to these questions will surely help you to understand and thus follow the reference. The first thing to do is to ask questions like the ones we have just asked and to read t...

Natural soil

Natural soils are influenced by rainfall and temperature,heavy rain causes the soil to become leached. High temperatures increase the rate of decomposition of organic matter in the soil, thereby lowering its humus content. Thus, climatic conditions tend to produce poor soils in the tropics and rich soils in the temperate regions. Besides climate and vegetation, the parent rock material also contributes to the quality of the soil. For example volcanic rocks tend to produce fertile soils. Laterite, a red soil which is a product of leaching, is commonly found in the tropics. It is composed mainly of iron and aluminium compounds,and poor in humus and essential plant nutrients, such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. The black and brown soil of the temperate grasslands are the world's richest soils, with a high mineral and humus content. The light coloured desert soils tend to be very rich in minerals but have a low humus content. Mainly the soils ar...

Frequent masturbation

Frequent masturbation in young men is linked to higher risk of early prostate cancer , but it lowers prostate cancer risk for men in their 50s, a study shows. High levels of male sex hormones, or androgens, may increase a man's risk of prostate cancer . But different studies of this question, done in different ways, have reached different conclusions. To look at the question in a new way, a team of researchers looked at whether men with more intense sex drives were at higher risk of prostate cancer. About half the men got prostate cancer by age 60, and about half did not have cancer . The findings were surprising. Sexual intercourse did not affect prostate cancer risk. But frequent masturbation did -- in different ways, at different times of life. "Frequent masturbation during men's 20s and 30s increased their risk of prostate cancer. For men in their 20s, "frequent masturbation" was two to seven times per week. Compared to same-age men who reported mas...

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