The word Agriculture originates from the Latin word ‘agricultura’ which literally means field growing or cultivation

Agriculture is the act or science of cultivating the ground, including the harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of livestock. Agriculture is believed to be the basic avenue for the economic growth of a country over the years . It simplifies every aspect of the economy by creating a whole variety of employment in the country for its various citizens. Reading agriculture as a course in schools  help students to know how to cultivate crops and rear animals and also how to manage the natural resources available to suit both human and animal consumption.
The agricultural sector in Ghana is well-established and provides formal and informal employment. The country produces many types of crops in diverse climatic zones across Ghana. Plants that thrive in Ghana include grains, yams, cocoa, timber, oil palms, and kola nuts. These are the foundation of agronomy in Ghana's economy. Ghanaians have realized the importance of agriculture in Ghana and the government has put in place various inputs to assist in improving the sector. 
The growth of Agriculture sector for 2015 is 0.04% according to 2016 budget presented by the then Minister of Finance, Hon Seth Tekper and growth rate of crops hit negative (-1.7%). This figures blatantly points towards a retrogressing agriculture sector in Ghana.
“The Agricultural Sector has suffered massive neglect. As compared to 2008 when nearly 600 million USD was spent on food imports; in 2014, nearly 1.5 billion USD was spent for importing basic food items including tropical crops such as rice, tomato, palm oil and sugar. In 2013, a whopping 374 million USD was spent alone on rice import”.
 It is not just about cultivating crops and rearing animals as many people are made 
to believe , but rather entails a lot of activities such as providing raw materials to many industries which form the backbone of a nation. Raw materials such as ore, crude oil, raw latex, cotton, coal, wool, logs, leather and a whole lot are given to the various industries to process them into finished goods. Some of these finished goods are cornflakes, tomato pastes, ‘’neat fufu’’, sardines, tin milk, biscuits, perfumed rice, shoes, bags, clothes and etc. 




At a glance some key importance of Agriculture are :
Source of Food Supply: Agriculture is the basic source of food supply of all the countries of the world—whether underdeveloped, developing or even developed. Due to heavy pressure of population in underdeveloped and developing countries and its rapid increase, the demand for food is increasing at a fast rate. If agriculture fails to meet the rising demand of food products, it is found to affect adversely the growth rate of the economy. Raising supply of food by agricultural sector has, therefore, great importance for economic growth of a country.
Source of Foreign Exchange for the Country: Most of the developing countries of the world are exporters of primary products. These products contribute 60 to 70 per cent of their total export earnings. Thus, the capacity to import capital goods and machinery for industrial development depends crucially on the export earning of the agriculture sector. If exports of agricultural goods fail to increase at a sufficiently high rate, these countries are forced to incur heavy deficit in the balance of payments resulting in a serious foreign exchange problem.
Pre-Requisite for Raw Material: Agricultural advancement is necessary for improving the supply of raw materials for the agro-based industries especially in developing countries. The shortage of agricultural goods has its impact upon on industrial production and a consequent increase in the general price level. It will impede the growth of the country's economy. The flour mills, rice sellers, oil mills, bread, meat, milk products, sugar factories, wineries, jute mills, textile mills and numerous other industries are based on agricultural products.
 Even though in various institutions in which agriculture is normally seen as a 
‘’minor course’’ due to reasons best known to them, it is the best programme to
 read or study in an institution, that I can assure you of. It is also a key area of a nation to also focus on its upkeep and continual improvement considering its vital role it plays. This is because living things (humans and animals) can never live without food. We eat every single day and we forget to acknowledge the fact that it is the farmers(agriculturist which is often use these days) that produce these food for us to consume directly(raw) or indirectly(processed) for growth and development .


 We can live without our phones, tablets, computers, and other basic stuff but we 
  cannot live without food. Food provides the various essential nutrients which provide energy needed for growth and development of living organisms and it is the agriculture sector that produces these foods for us to consume.  This attests to the fact that, it is very important to read agriculture because it gives students the insight to know more
about these basic things about our environment to enable life to be enjoyable. 

  In a nut shell, reading agriculture in schools as a course or chosen career and the relevance of attracting investors to it  is very
 important and thus will serve as a basis to equip students, individuals and the nation as whole  to help develop the economic aspect of the country and must  therefore  be 
encouraged to do so .

 Source:
Benedicta Esinam Akweso
A.O.B MULTIMEDIA NEWS-KUMASI