Agriculturists, The Monks of Nature
A child dies from hunger every 10 seconds.
In 1845 the great famine began, and almost 1 million people died if not more. The great Chinese famine started in 1958 and ended in 1962, 36 million people died. Enough with doomy gloomy statistics already right?
It is no secret that agriculture as a sector has been looked down upon in some societies, when Nigeria discovered crude oil, instead of crude oil being added to the source of the nation’s vast economic development it was used as the major source of economic growth pushing the Agricultural sector aside.
Other professions often look down on farmers, it is even an insult to refer to someone as a farmer in some places.
As a course of study, Agriculture is often looked down upon by many people. A generic Nigerian parent expects his/her child to be a Medical doctor, Lawyer or Accountant. Being a computer scientist or a pilot can be manageable for them but when a child tells his/her parent about their dream of being an agriculturist, then the parents wonder how the village people and friends of the ancient ones have finally used their child as a vessel of unspeakable evil.
When I was in the university I had personal experiences of people asking me to give them my school fees so they will teach me how to farm instead of "wasting my school fees" studying agriculture.
My banking and finance student claims his discipline was more important than mine. Farmers are often time overlooked, agriculturists are Scientologists to some scientists.
How important is agriculture really? Am I over-reaching when I say Agriculture is the most important discipline on earth? No, I am not over-reaching and Yes agriculture is the most important discipline on earth if humans evolve beyond eating food, until then will I reconsider my answer.
How important is agriculture?
I happen to be teaching a junior secondary school in a village to "serve my father’s land" so let me teach you some of what I taught the jss3 students.
Whatever profession you do, if you decide to keep your goods and/or services to yourself, the doctors keep their ability to treat, the tailors keep their cloth, the people in finance keep their money and financial advice, and so on what happens when the farmer keeps what he produces, which of them will have the most significant effect.
To some agriculture is a lifestyle, to some, it is a source of income, to all it is a source of food, shelter and cloth.
Why are agriculturists important?
as the topic hinted, agriculturists are important because they are the monks of nature.
Agriculturists try to solve the problem that Thomas Malthus predicted in 1798 that the population of the world is increasing at a geometrical rate while food production is increasing at an arithmetic rate.
When Thomas said that the population of the world was 800 million now in 2023 the population of the world is more than 10 times that number.
Agriculturists are solving the problem of how to produce for the ever-increasing population.
With genetic modification, with intense study and work we have produced plants with disease resistance, we have plants that can survive in drought, and we have plants that yield more than they could yield before.
When there is food scarcity, the poor can’t afford to eat, when the scarcity increases then the middle class can’t afford to eat, when the scarcity increases even more the rich can’t afford to eat and when the scarcity keeps going up, even the powerful will die of hunger and I think that death by hunger is one of the worse ways for any living thing to lose live, how much more those created in the very image of their creator.
Greet a farmer today, appreciate an agriculturist today for your survival depends and will always depend on these monks of Nature.
