ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general analytical background for the study of any agricultural commodity. It talks about the determinants that affect the demand and supply of agricultural commodities, which are produced for food uses. The most fundamental human need is that to feed. Regular food production is what distinguished organised societies from nomadic tribes, and the beginning of civilisation coincided with the cultivation of land and domestication of animals in the Fertile Crescent, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Agricultural commodities are normally split into crops, animal produce, production inputs and processed foods. The importance of government policies in agriculture cannot be exaggerated. Agriculture is the base of any society at the beginning of its economic development. In economic terminology, crops are classified as renewable natural resources. A subsector that has received relatively little attention is that of agricultural inputs. Food crops are broadly classified in grains, legumes or pulses, fruits and vegetables, and other crops.
