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Gone are the days were people pay more attention to white collar jobs and lest attention to agriculture with the notion that it's a vocation for the less privileged who are "illiterate".
But today,
we have so many people who are deeply involved in agriculture as a result of the benefits derived from it. I had an opportunity to attend an agro-business seminar in town some time ago and to my greatest surprise there was a massive turnout; there were different categories of persons, the young adults both male and female as well as adolescents and from my observation these persons were educated fellows; I supposed we had in that agro business seminar; civil servants, business men and women as well as students.
Many persons are interested in multiple streams of income and those that have passion or interest in agriculture are venturing into it and many of them are doing well from the knowledge they have acquired.
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We have more of
subsistence farmers who only cultivate plants and rear animals for their own consumption with little or nothing to market.
Crops cultivated by farmers could be classified into different categories based on their
uses,
lifespan,
morphology, etc.
Based on uses, there are:
• Tuber crops
• Cereal crops
• Fruit crops
• Ornamental crops
• Forage crops
• Fibre crops
• Latex crops
• Oil crops
• Spices
• Beverage crops, etc.
Based on lifespan; we have:
• Annual crops: These are crops that get mature with the producing of its offering(s) in a single growing season)
• Biennial crops: These are crops that takes more than one planting season to mature and produce it's offsprings in another season
• Perennial crops: These are crops that keeps on producing offsprings beyond two planting seasons.
Based on morphology,there are two categories which are monocotyledons and dicotyledons
Tuber and grain crops are foods crops that are cultivated in many parts of the world.
Tuber crops are underground crops that stores its nutrients in swollen structures called tubers. They are classified into root and stem tubers. The root tubers has its swollen underground structure that stores nutrient at the root position; an example of root tubers are cassava, sweet potatoes, etc while stem tubers are those ones whose tubers( the swollen underground organ) is/are positioned at the stem regions; an example of stem tubers are yam, potatoes, etc.
The moisture content in tuber crops is high compared to that of grain crops and this is a challenge when it comes to storing it for a lengthy period of time as it gets rotten easily.
Grain crops can also be referred to as cereal crops. They belong to the grass family and produces dry seeds that are small and hard.
Maize, sorghum, millet, rice, barley, wheat, etc are examples of grain. Tubers are locally stored in barns while silos are used for cereals.
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The impact of tuber crops cannot be overemphasized as far as food security(
the availability of food at all time to everyone) is concerned. Tuber crops can be cultivated employing the mixed farming practice which result in the availability of other stable food crops.
Tuber crops just like the grain crops can be processed into other essential products that could serve as raw materials for production of other food items; for instance, flour obtained from tubers can be used in baking industries to produce other consumables thereby providing more variety of food for human consumption.
Since tuber crops can withstand some adverse conditions such as drought, heat and so on it makes it availability unabated.
Despite the limited time, I would like
@bossj23 @nsijoro and
@basil20 to take part in this contest.