The paper highlights the role of agriculture in socio-economic development from both historical and comparative perspectives. It covers a short history of agriculture in the major regions of the world, especially North and Latin America, Russia, Western Europe, Middle East, Eastern Europe, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, China, Japan, New Zealand, including the regions of primitive communities. Indications have it that agricultural development is the pre-condition for a balanced national development. It helps both material and non-material sectors to grow. And any neglect to it does hinder a nation's pace of economic development. Hence it seems imperative for a developing country to draw lessons from the 'developed' countries to identify its priorities for national development at the threshold of the 21" century.