Agriculture : Biological & Biomedical Sciences Essay

Agriculture
Name
Professor
Course
Date
Agriculture
Prompt: One scholar called agriculture the worst mistake in history. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
I am afraid I disagree with the scholar that agriculture is the worst mistake in human history. Agriculture is the backbone of the global economy. Humans live because of agriculture. Other sectors of the economy like mining, transport, manufacturing, among others, survive because agriculture fuel the activities in all these sectors. We all depend on agriculture even when we think we are distant from it. The energy that we all have to operate machinery, walk, and work and even criticize agriculture comes from agriculture. It is a crucial sector in human life.
Agriculture ensures a steady supply of food (Farming Portal, n.d.). Human beings cannot survive without food because it gives us the energy to keep living. A day without food is a disaster in human life and even the lives of animals. Leaders and ordinary people need food for good health, and food is an excellent source of good health. A person visits a doctor only when he eats, and his health keeps on deteriorating. Domestic animals need food to survive, too; hence we cannot ignore agriculture. A report published by the United Nations shows that up to 25000 people die from hunger every day in the world (United Nations, 2017). Most of these deaths occur in developing countries worldwide, and it would be worse without agriculture. People might argue that ancient people used to eat from forest trees and survive, but the population has expanded, and there is less forest in the world. Still, there would be no enough food. Agriculture gave an alternative for food supply where people can eat from various wild fruits and animals. Agriculture provides the remedy for the deaths through hunger because it allows for a steady supply of food that sustains life.
Countries survive on the revenue they earn from different sectors, including agriculture. People buy food and other agricultural products that are taxed. The industry has also employed very many people who work in various agricultural departments. For example, some people do industries that process agricultural products while others work in the farms nurturing raw materials from industries. All these people pay taxes to the government. In such a case, agriculture helps on a double scale. The government gets revenue while people earn their daily living through being employed.
Agriculture earns a country's foreign exchange topping upon its revenue (Jones & Ejeta, 2016). Countries interdepend on each other just as human beings do (Harari, 2015). For example, Japan produces great agricultural machinery but does not have enough land for farming. Countries like those in Africa buy machinery from Japan for use in the farms earning Japan. When agricultural production is in surplus, the African countries sell the agricultural products to Japan hence foreign exchange.