Introduction to Agriculture: Roles of agriculture in the economy - Form 1 Agriculture Notes

Agriculture play the following roles in the economy

• Provides food to the population to meet nutritional requirements and to enable man to engage in other activities of farming.
• Provides employment. This for example can be direct as a labourer in the farm, tea plucker or indirect for example, working in agricultural based industries.
• Source of raw materials for industries for example cotton lint for textile industry.
• Provides foreign exchange - through exporting agricultural produce.
• Provides market for industrial goods ¬agriculture is a consumer of the finished goods from agro-based industries.
• Source of income - farmers as well as the government get revenue from the sale of agricultural produce and tax payment.