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...

TEACHING AND PEACE CORPS

Teaching today is hard work. The old demands that one knows his subject and master the art of teaching are increased by the need to prepare students for a world that is constantly changing, and in ways that were unfamiliar and complicated. We now inhabit what we should call spaceship earth, and the instructor's book didn't come with it. But it is not true that the demands of our own technological world represent the only or even the most difficult challenge to the teacher. Beyond the technological world, there is a world not constantly changing, in fact, where change has not come fast enough, and when change alone can bring partnership in the 20th century. To the developing world, the peace corps teacher is asked to bring skills and knowledge. He is also asked to bring understanding, which respects the beauty of that world's religious beliefs and customs. The peace corps teacher must guide and, at the same time, respect the student's uniquene...

Housing Problems

Housing is certainly one of the basic necessities of man. However when rural dwellers migrated to the urban areas in very large numbers, housing has become a problem. This further exacerbate by the upsurge in the number of people coming to stay in a country, increasing the country's population in a manner that surpasses the rate at which houses are built, and the relative in cash flow which makes people desires better living conditions. The importance of housing is so universally acknowledge that the United Nations declared 1986 international year of shelter. But so far, all efforts made, including building of housing estates by the government, have not solved the problem of inadequate housing. How could this be solved? The government should make provision of amenities to be getting in cheap rates, various building materials such as cement, roofing sheets, asbestos, as well as finishing materials such as paints and tiles. The government should build and sell the house at a...

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