Primary Sector: Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries
The Primary Sector
The primary sector includes activities related to procurement and food production, namely agriculture, livestock, and fisheries. It also includes some raw material exploitation.
Factors Influencing Agriculture
- The weather: Each crop requires specific climatic conditions, temperature, and humidity for its development.
- The relief: Typically located on flats or the bottoms of wider valleys. This is because slopes significantly hamper work and can prevent mechanization.
- Soil: Not all soils are suitable for these activities. The quality of the soil for planting often depends on its texture, which affects water retention, and its acidity, which influences fertility.
Cropping Systems
- Polyculture: Space divided into numerous plots with a variety of species.
- Monoculture: Specializes in the cultivation of a single product.
Farming Practices
- Intensive: Practiced in densely populated places where land is scarce and expensive.
- Extensive: Practiced where there is much land and little labor. The goal is to obtain plenty of cheap goods.
Irrigation
- Landscapes of irrigation: Water needed for crop development is extracted from underground reservoirs and then channeled to the fields.
- Cultivation of rainfed: Fields rely solely on rainwater.
Types of Agriculture
Subsistence Farming
Subsistence farming, as its name suggests, is to survive. No recreational purposes. Within this type of agriculture, there are several types:
- Itinerant Agriculture by Burning: Fields are obtained by burning forests. Holes are made where seeds are planted.
- Rainfed Extensive Agriculture: Combines animal husbandry with farming activities, applying the technique of fallowing.
- Irrigated Rice Agriculture: Practiced in places where rainfall is abundant. The ground must always be flooded. The most typical product is rice.
Market Agriculture
Market agriculture is practiced mainly for commercial purposes. Without the intention of self-consumption, market agriculture is geared towards consumer demand. This agriculture serves two purposes: increasing sales and reducing costs. Factors influencing market agriculture include:
- Mechanization of the field: The aim is to save labor and increase income, making it cheaper and faster.
- Specialization of agricultural production: Allows for more products and facilitates their marketing.
- Quick marketing of agricultural products: Requires specialized trades for agile marketing.
Livestock Farming
- Intensive: Highly specialized, requiring significant capital investment in labor, feed, and facilities. Animals are often bred in barns or farms under a housing regime, typically concentrated on cattle.
- Extensive: Livestock graze on large tracts of land and feed naturally. This type of farming requires less capital investment, labor, and feed than intensive livestock farming, and productivity is lower.
Fishing
- Traditional or artisanal fishing: Usually performed near the coast without the aid of large machines, relying solely on manpower. This type of fishing is common in underdeveloped areas, following established traditions.
- Industrial fishing: Takes place in remote areas of the coast. This type of fishing is usually done with large ships that can sail for nearly two years without returning to the coast. They have super-cooled storage to hold large quantities of fish.