AGCO Blog Contest Finalist: Peter Ojike
Join us in congratulating our fourth finalist in AGCO’s blog contest “Articulating Agriculture”. Peter Ojike is from Nigeria. Again, make sure to vote for your favorite blogger all this week by posting your comments to their blog post. Agriculture, which...
AGCO Blog Contest Finalist: Peter Ojike
Join us in congratulating our fourth finalist in AGCO’s blog contest “Articulating Agriculture”. Peter Ojike is from Nigeria. Again, make sure to vote for your favorite blogger all this week by posting your comments to their blog post. Agriculture, which...Agriculture, which is the industry of man’s growth of plants and animals for human use, has been man’s employer from his very existence!
Have you ever thought of the farmer that produced the original cotton of the T-shirt you put on?
Many people don’t realise how agriculture affects their lives or how they could affect others using agriculture. This will explain the increase in the rural-urban drift in most developing countries were agriculture is the sole employer of the rural dwellers. For example, percentage urbanization in Nigeria in 1975 is 23.4% and 43.9% in 2000 (UN Population Division) and only 3% of Nigerians practice agriculture which is mainly done with crude implements.
In such scenario, where the government cares much about importation of food, many young people’s eyes are veiled from seeing the opportunities in agriculture.
In Eastern Nigeria, land rotation is practiced in the rural areas partly because of the sparse population and because of the rapid regrowth of the secondary vegetation.
Mr. Kalu has a large vegetable farm in Alayi. I spend time in his farm often.
I wasn’t supposed to be doing that as a physicist but a first visit to his farm may convince you that agriculture makes sense!
He plants wide varieties of vegetables in his farm like fluted pumpkin, pepper, garden egg and okra.
Apart from answering to the three basic needs of man –food, shelter and clothing, agriculture also sees to the production of raw material and fuel which indirectly produces electricity.
If you’ve found no reason to like agriculture, why not like it for the 3Ps; The Profit, the Produce and the Pleasure!
Other sectors may have an alternative but agriculture doesn’t.
Why not join the over 44% of the world’s labour force and go back to the farm?
