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Importance Of Farming

Importance Of AgricultureFor Decades, Agriculture Has Been Associated With The Production Of Essential Food Crops. At Present, Agr...

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Importance of agriculture

For decades, agriculture has been associated with the production of essential food crops. At present, agriculture above and beyond farming includes forestry, dairy, fruit cultivation, poultry, bee keeping, mushroom, arbitrary, etc. Today, processing, marketing, and distribution of crops and livestock products etc. are all acknowledged as part of current agriculture.Thus, agriculture could be referred to as the production, processing, promotion and distribution agricultural products.

Agriculture plays a critical role in the entire life of a given economy. Agriculture is the backbone of the economic system of a given country. In addition to providing food and raw material, agriculture also provides employment opportunities to very large percentage of the population. Below are the importances of agriculture:

SOURCE OF LIVELIHOOD

The main source livelihood of many people is agriculture. Approximately 70 % of the people directly rely on agriculture as a mean of living. This high percentage in agriculture is as a result of none development of non-agricultural activities to absorb the fast-growing population. However, most people in developed countries do not engage in agriculture.

CONTRIBUTION TO NATIONAL REVENUE

Agriculture is the main source of national income for most developing countries. However, for the developed countries, agriculture contributes a smaller per cent age to their national income.

Supply Of Food As Well As Fodder

Agricultural sector provides fodder for domestic animals. Cow provides people with milk which is a form of protective food. Moreover, livestock also meets peoples food requirements.

Significance to the International Trade

Agricultural products like sugar, tea, rice, spices, tobacco, coffee etc. constitute the major items of exports of countries that rely on agriculture. If there is smooth development practice of agriculture, imports are reduced while export increases considerably. This helps to reduce countries unfavorable balance of payments as well as saving foreign exchange. This amount may be well used to import other essential inputs, machinery, raw-material, and other infrastructure that is helpful for the support of countrys economic development.

MARKETABLE SURPLUS

The growth of agricultural sector contributes to marketable surplus. Many people engage in manufacturing, mining as well as other non- agricultural sector as the nation develops. All these individuals rely on food production that they might meet from the nations marketable surplus. As agricultural sector development takes place, production increases and this leads to expansion of marketable surplus. This may be exported to other nations.

Source Of Raw Material

The main source of raw materials to major industries such as cotton and jute fabric, sugar, tobacco, edible as well as non-edible oils is agriculture. Moreover, many other industries such as processing of fruits as well as vegetables and rice husking get their raw material mainly from agriculture.

Significance In Transport

Bulks of agricultural products are transported by railways and roadways from farm to factories. Mostly, internal trade is in agricultural products. Moreover, the revenue of the government, to a larger extent, relies on the success of agricultural sector.

Foreign Exchange Resources

The nations export trade depends largely on agricultural sector. For example, agricultural commodities such as jute, tobacco, spices, oilseeds, raw cotton, tea as well as coffee accounts for approximately 18 % of the entire value of exports of a country. This demonstrates that agriculture products also continue to be important source of earning a country foreign exchange.

Great Employment Opportunities

Construction of irrigation schemes, drainage system as well as other such activities in the agricultural sector is important as it provides larger employment opportunities. Agriculture sector provides more employment opportunities to the labor force that reduce the high rate of unemployment in developing countries caused by the fast growing population.

Economic Development

Since agriculture employs many people it contributes to economic development. As a result, the national income level as well as peoples standard of living is improved. The fast rate of development in agriculture sector offers progressive outlook as well as increased motivation for development. Hence, it aids to create good atmosphere for overall economic development of a country. Therefore, economic development relies on the agricultural growth rate.

Source of Saving

Development in agriculture may also increase savings. The rich farmers we see today started saving particularly after green revolution. This surplus quantity may be invested further in the agriculture sector to develop the sector.

Food Security

A stable agricultural sector ensures a nation of food security. The main requirement of any country is food security. Food security prevents malnourishment that has traditionally been believed to be one of the major problems faced by the developing countries. Most countries rely on agricultural products as well as associated industries for their main source of income. ANN- CRAMEDIA Pretoria South Africa.

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Benefits Of Cucumber

Cucumber Is A Creeping Vine That bears Cylindrical Fruits. It IsscLentLficall Known As Cucumis Sativus It Belongs To The Gour...

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Cucumber is a creeping vine that

bears cylindrical fruits. It is

scLentLficall known as Cucumis sativus it belongs to the gourd family

cucubitacea. Other vegetables which belong to this family include

Melon, squash, Watermelon and Pumpkins [1]. It originated from the

Asia continent [2]. Cucumber plant can be cultivated in both

temperate and tropical environment hence it is said to be a native of

many regions of the world [3]. ere are several varieties of cucumber

but the edible cucumber is classLfied under two groups the slicing and

pickling cucumber.

e slicing cucumbers are longer and thinner when compared to the

pickling cucumber [4]. Cucumber contains nutrients vital for the body

development [5]. It also has several health benefits such as: re-

hydrating the body, health regulating the blood pressure, body weight

management, cholesterol reduction, cancer prevention, bone health,

diabetes cure and antioxidant activity [1,6-11]

Cultivation of cucumber requires soil types which possess a high

water holding capacity and good drainage. It also requires soil rich in

organic matter and manure. e soil pH ranges from 5.5 to 7.0 [12], its

proper development is aected by water logged soil hence it needs a

fair amount of water. Planting is usually done on a hill, rows or raised

beds. $er planting several seed on a hill it is later thinned to 2-3 plant

per hill [13]. Harvesting of the cucumber is usually 40 to 60 days aer

planting [14].

Climates and season dLer as you move from the Northern Nigeria

to the Southern Nigeria and be broadly classLfied into two seasons, the

dry season and wet season [3]. e environment a plant is cultivated

include the soil and the climate of the site of cultivation [15]. e

component of soil aects plant growth. e locations of the soil and

climate aect the soil composition [16]. Plants which are cultivated in

dLerent location will have dLerent quality as a result of the dLerence

in the soil composition and climate [17].

Materials and Methods

ree States in Nigeria were selected for the study. e states are

Rivers, Imo and Plateau. e seeds were bought from fruit garden

market, Kaduna Street, Port-Harcourt. Same variety of cucumber was

cultivated in the site of choice in the various states. Planting was done

on hills. e plants were thinned to two plants per hill. Ten hills were

made in each of the farm for the purpose of this study. At the end of

ten weeks of planting the cucumber fruits were plucked and collected

for analysis.

e physical observation of the yield of the cucumber by measuring

the fruit length, weight and counting the number of fruit was done.

e proximate analysis was carried out at the food science

laboratory of the Rivers State University Port-Harcourt. It was done

using standard laboratory technique as described by Association of

Analytical Communities [18,19]. e protein analysis was done using

the technique described by Chang [20]. e mineral analysis was done

using the Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer technique.

Abbey et al., Biochem Anal Biochem 2017, 6:3

DOI: 10.4172/2161-1009.1000328

Research Article Open Access

Biochem Anal Biochem, an open access journa

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