Developing countries are faced with numerous problems which militate against the development of agriculture. Some of the problems are: 1. Problem of Land Tenure: Land is one of the most important factors in agricultural production. The land tenure is the way land is owned in a society. The prevailing land tenure systems in the country often discourage agricultural land utilization. Land is owned by inheritance hence land is fragmented over generations. Increase in population has increased the various alternatives to which land can be put. This further puts pressure on all the available land. 2. Problems of Basic Amenities: Basic amenities like electricity cinema, standard schools, good and functioning health centers, recreational parks for relaxation, good roads, telephone, television viewing centers etc, are lacking in the rural areas. This often leads to the following: a) Rural-Urban drifts, that is, people leaving the village for jobs in the city. b) Reduction in the working population in the village. c) Low agricultural production. 3. Problems of Finance or Poor Financing: Most agricultural activities in the developing countries are subsistent in nature, hence the farmers: (i) are very poor (ii) cannot secure the necessary collateral for loans (iii) cannot have access to enough credit facilities. (iv) Cannot pay the high interest rates on loans either from financial institutions or money lenders. (v) Cannot procure the most sophisticated machines. (vi) Cannot employ agricultural specialists whose salaries and wages are far above what the farmers can afford. 4. Poor Transportation: This includes (i) Bad roads (ii) Inadequate vehicles (iii) Vehicles lack spare parts (iv) High cost of bringing the farm products from rural areas to urban centers (v) Lack of transportation which increases the activities of middlemen in the movement of agricultural products from the farm to the urban centers where they are consumed (vi) Lack of transport facilities which increases perishability of farm crops. 5. Poor Communication: This includes lack of good radio, television, telephone, telex, fax machines for quick messages and assessment of latest discoveries in the agricultural sector. This makes the professional agriculturists to be unaware of recent developments in his filed. 6. Problems of Good Storage and Processing Facilities: Storage facilities like silo, rhombus, cribs, barns, rafters are inadequate, thus leading to: (a) Perishability of crops like tomato, pepper, etc. (b) Pests and diseases which attack farm products (c) Farmers fumigating their products. (d) Glut during harvests and famine outside harvest periods. (e) The quality of farm products being reduced. (f) Farm products wasting. Processing facilities like thresher, miller, grater, canning machine and sealing machines are: (i) Very expensive to procure (ii) Highly technical for local farmers to operate (iii) Very difficult and expensive to maintain. 7. Lack of Good Agricultural education: Most of the farmers in the developing countries are not educated enough in the technicalities relating to agricultural product, hence, they are: (i) Dogmatic and adamant to changes (ii) Very superstitious in their beliefs (iii) Very suspicious of any new innovation (iv) Unscientific in mind and thinking (v) Not willing to accept technological changes (vi) Very uncooperative, hostile and unaccommodating (vii) Unwilling to even learn how to use and apply fertilizers, insecticides and new farm tools. All these bring about low agricultural productivity. 8. Poor Extension Activities: Extensive helps in disseminating recent information to a large number of people within a very short time. This is not the case in developing countries because:: (i) Extension workers are too ill-equipped for the work. (ii) The period of training is too long. (iii) Language barriers. (iv) Lack of recent research work. (v) The uncooperative attitude of farmers. (vi) Lack of vehicles. (vii) Poor remuneration. 9. Poor Tools and Farm Machines: Farmers still rely on the use of tools like hoe, cutlass, rake, etc for their activities, instead of using the mechanized implements like ridges, ploughs, cultivators, etc. Poor tools can lead to: (i) Drudgery of the farmer (ii) Time wasting (iii) Short life span of the farmers (iv) Low yield (v) Low farmers income. While machines are: (i) Very expensive to procure and maintain (ii) Highly technical to use (iii) Cannot be used in small farm holdings (iv) Cannot be used in some soils. (v) Cannot be used for some crops like yam. 10. Unstable Policies and Programmes of Government: Even government comes with different programmes which often tell on the farmers. 11. Poor Marketing System: The sole aim of commercial agriculture is profit making, but this cannot be achieved due to the following: (i) Activities of middlemen who try to remove all the gains, create artificial scarcity, etc. (ii) Poor pricing policies. (iii) Non-functional food commodity boards for food crops. (iv) There is also fluctuation in prices (v) Poor marketing channels for farm produce (vi) Lack of good roads. (vii) Poor storage facilities. 12. Pest and Diseases: They can: (i) Increase the cost of production (ii) Reduce the quality of farm produce (iii) Reduce the quality of farm produce (iv) Reduce farmers income (v) discourage farmers from further production. 13. Unpredictable Climate: This includes: (i) Drought or long period without rain which leads to poor harvest. (ii) Flooding or excessive rainfall which reduces yield. (iii) Excessive sunshine, which leads to increase in temperature. (iv) Inadequate sunshine which reduces the photosynthetic ability of plants. (v) Unfavourable climate which also reduces farm activities. 14. Agricultural Inputs: They include: (i) Agricultural chemicals like insecticides dieldrin dust, aldrin dust, fernasan D), nematicide like rogor). (ii) Inputs like improved seeds and seedlings, improved animal materials like the parent stock in birds are lacking. (iii) Agricultural inputs are very expensive. (iv) The application of these chemicals can lead to pollination of the environment. (v) Some inputs are very substandard and do not meet the desired result. (vi) Inputs like fertilizers are very expensive and also inadequate. (vii) Most of the inputs are imported and are very expensive to procure. 15. Sociological and Psychological Attitude Towards Farming: (i) Young people feel that farming is for the dropouts or never-do-well in the society and a profession for poor people. (ii) Farmers are believed to be low class and the public seldom reckons with them as they do to accountants, medical doctors, lawyers and engineers. (iii) Young people also prefer white collar jobs where they can dress impressively. 16. Smuggling: (i) This means illegal exportation of food. (ii) It increases the cost of farm products. (iii) Places money in the hands of few individuals. (iv) It can cause hunger in the villages, as everybody will now want to engage in smuggling. 17. Environmental Degradation: This includes: (i) Pollination of the environment through the activities of the industries. (ii) Soil erosion destroying the structure of land. (iii) setting up of forest fire, which increases environmental temperature. (iv) Deforestation reduces rainfall, forest trees and land protection. (v) Improper waste disposal can lead to spread of diseases in the environment.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:25:21 +0000
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