COP 621- General Agriculture

Originally the term agriculture is derived from two Latin words “Ager” and “Cultura”. Ager means land and cultura means cultivation i.e. tilling the soil and preparing it for planting of crops. Putting the two words together i.e. land and cultivation, agriculture could be regarded as land cultivation. In this modern day farming, this definition is no longer acceptable as agriculture means more than land cultivation. Modern agriculture therefore could be defined as the production of crops and rearing of animals for the purpose of producing food for man’s use and raw materials for industries. Generally speaking, modern agriculture involves the following activities: • cultivation of the land for the production of crops • rearing of farm animals for the production of food and raw materials • partial processing of farm products • preservation and storage of farm products, and • marketing of agricultural products. From the above definition, it implies that modern agriculture does not end in the production of food for man alone. In this modern day farming, farmers also cultivate land for the production of crops for feeding livestock. Similarly, farmers grow cotton not for food but to supply raw materials for textile industry. The conversion of raw cassava tuber to gari and groundnut into groundnut oil and groundnut cake comes under the term processing