Understanding the Primary Sector: Agriculture, Livestock, and More
Primary Sector: Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, and Fishing
Item 4: Primary Sector Resources
Resources extracted from nature include agriculture, livestock, forestry, and fishing.
The Agrarian Population
In 2005, the agrarian population represented 43% of the world’s population. However, in developed countries, the percentage is below 10%, while in underdeveloped countries it exceeds 50%.
The Surface
The continents with the largest surface area are Europe and Asia.
The Physical Factors
Relief
- Latitude: Changes in temperature and precipitation increase with latitude.
- The orientation of the slopes: South-facing slopes are generally sunnier, while north-facing slopes are wetter.
- Slopes and Falls: These factors influence fieldwork.
- Valley bottoms: These are generally the most favored areas for agricultural activities.
Climate
Climate influences the chances of plant development through insolation, temperature, precipitation, and wind.
- Winds favor soft crops.
Water, Vegetation, and Soil Fauna
- Freshwater, whether surface or underground, is indispensable for living and improving agricultural yields through irrigation.
- Natural vegetation: Improves soil quality.
- The ground: Provides the nutrients needed for plant fertility, which depends on its thickness.
Agricultural Plots
Space is divided into plots, which are the most elementary divisions of agrarian space under a single limit. They can be of different types based on dimensions (large, medium, or small), shape (regular or irregular), and their limits.
A farm is the set of plots worked by the same employer, whether they are owned or not.
Agricultural Uses
Agriculture
Farming for the cultivation of plants.
Cropping Systems
Vary according to the following:
- Variety of crops: Monoculture involves plots dedicated to a single crop type, while polyculture involves different crops.
- The water found in plants: Differentiating between dry crops, if they receive only rainwater, or irrigated crops, if agriculture provides them with extra water from rivers, wells, or springs.
- How land is used: Continuous cultivation of land, rotation, or fallow.
- Land use: Intensive agriculture.
- Intensive agriculture: Achieves high returns with less labor through the use of advanced technology.
- Extensive agriculture: Not all the land is cultivated. In modern extensive agriculture, plots are large, and modern techniques are used due to labor shortages.
Livestock Resources
Livestock is the agricultural activity dedicated to raising livestock, providing food and raw materials for industry.
Livestock Farming Systems
Techniques used for raising livestock.
- Nomadic livestock: Herders constantly move herds to search for pasture.
- Transhumant livestock: Herders move seasonally between winter grazing in the plains and valleys and summer pastures in the mountains.
- Extensive livestock: Livestock spend time outdoors and in pastures.
- Livestock mix
Logging
Agricultural activity dedicated to providing timber, firewood, paper pulp, spoon, pharmaceutical and perfume products, fruits, and game.
Species
Species with higher yields are lush tropical forests and temperate forests, alongside conifers in cold zones.
Forest Types
Forests can be populated by trees, consisting of tall trees, and lowland forests.
Forestry
The cultivation of forests to avoid degradation and overexploitation of natural forests.
Settlement and Rural Habitat
This refers to the distribution of the agrarian population, which responds to three modes:
- Dispersed: Houses and buildings are scattered and surrounded by farmland.
- Concentrated: Houses and buildings are grouped in a single town or village, separated from the land.
- Interlayer: Consists of detached houses between villages or hamlets.
- The rural habitat: Includes agricultural habitats and buildings.