primary sector

PRIMARY SECTOR

1. INTRODUCTION.• The primary sector extracts resources

from nature.• The most important activities in this

sector are agriculture, livestock farming, fishing and forest exploitation.

• The percentage of rural population is about 40% of the total, but in the developed countries it is less than 10%, and on the contrary, in the developing countries is over 50%.

• Rural space is the non urban territory, mainly consisting of farming lands, pastures and forests. Besides, it includes houses, factories, roads, …

• Rural landscape is a humanized space because is composed of physical elements and of human elements.

Activity:1.1. Where is there more urban population?, where is there more rural population?

2. FACTORS IN AGRICULTURE

• Physical factors:

-Flat land is easier to grow crops on, there is less soil erosion and machinery can be used safely.

-Altitude: Some places are too high to grow crops because they are too cold. Temperature decreases 0´5°C every 100 m.

-South facing slopes are warmer because they face the sun.

-Soil needs to be fertile, deep and well drained.

-An appropiate climate for the crops(hours of sun, precipitation, temperature,…)

• Human factors:-Demographic pressure implies more

lands for farming and less natural spaces.

-Property of the land: private or collective. This land can be worked by its owner(direct possession), or can be hired to other people(indirect possession) in exchange of money(leasing) or in exchange of a percentage of the crop(sharecropping contract).

-Economic factors: traditional agriculture uses traditional techniques and polyculture; modern agriculture uses new techniques and monoculture.

-Political factors: agricultural reforms, watering plans, agricultural subsidies,…

-Technological factors: • Traditional techniques(plough, sickle,

…); or modern mechanisation(tractors, chemical products,…).

• Traditional species or transgenic species.

• Modification of natural conditions: traditional ones as watering, natural fertilizers, fallow land,…; modern ones as chemical fertilizers, hydroponic crops,…

Activity:

• 2.1. Apply the agricultural factors to the landscape of your village.

3. ELEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE.

• Plots: the agricultural space is divided into plots. We have to consider different aspects:

-Size: small, medium or large;-Shape: irregular or regular;-Limits: opened or closed(by bushes,

stone walls,…).

Activity: 3.1. Describe these plots(size, shape, limits).

• Agricultural systems:-Variety of crops: monoculture or

polyculture;

Activity:3.2. Define monoculture and

polyculture.

-Water: dean or irrigation;

-Continous growing(the land doesn´t rest), or crop rotation(crop alternation, sometimes leaving the land fallow);

-Land use: Intensive: high yields from a small area

of land. It needs high input of money, labour or technology.

Extensive: low yields from a large area of land.

• Livestock farming systems:-Nomadic livestock farming: shepherds

continually move on with their livestock looking for pasture.

-Transhumance: is the seasonal movement of shepherds with their livestock, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter.

-Extensive livestock farming: livestock graze freely in a large plot of land. It doesn´t need a high input of money or labour.

-Intensive livestock farming: livestock is inside the cowshed, and is partially or entirely fed with fodder. This system needs a high input of money, labour and technology, but the yields are high as well.

-Mixed livestock farming: animals combine the housing system in winter with the outdoor system in summer.

• Forestry uses:Logging is the activity of cutting down

trees.Silviculture is the activity of cultivation

of forests in order to preserve them.

-Human beings mainly explote 3 kinds of forests:

Tropical and equatorial forests: in Congo, Brazil or Indonesia with species like mahogany or teak.

Coniferous forest: in Russia or Canada with species like fir or pine.

Activity:3.4. Write some examples about

products we can get from livestock farming and forestry explotation.

• Population and rural habitat: The habitat can be concentrated or

scattered.

4. TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

• These landscapes can be found in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia.

• The agricultural systems are undeveloped, the technology is very old(plough, natural fertlizers,…), the input of labour is very high and the yields very low, and if there is a small surplus, itis destined to the local market.

• There are four traditional landscapes:-Shifting cultivation: It occurs in equatorial

forests in South-East Asia, Central and South America and Africa. People set fire to the jungle in order to get a clearing and cultivate it for three or four years, using the ashes as fertilizer.

They use manual labour and simple tools. The farmers grow crops for themselves and their families (subsistence).

The main crops are rice, maiza, tapioca, sweet potatoes, bananas and vegetables.

When soil loses its fertility the land is abandoned and the process starts again.

The forest clearing is left fallow and restored in about 60 years.

Activity:4.1. Why do we call to this agricultural

system “shifting cultivation”?, is this system intensive or extensive?, why does soil lose its fertility?

• Sedentary dryland farming: it is located in the dry tropical area of Africa, Asia and South America. The land is divided into two parts: the small plot nearest to the village are individual. Vegetables are cultivated along all the year; the land around these vegetable gardens is collective and it is divided into several plots in crop rotation(one of them allways fallow).

In the fallow land the livestock grazes and fertilizes the soil.

Activity:4.2. Write some advantages you can

find in this system compared to the shifting cultivation system.

• Wet rice farming: It occurs in many Asian countries (tropical and monsoon climate: India, China). It requires 1000 mm to 2500 mm of rainfall a year and an average temperature of 20°C. It is intensive because of the use of a large amount of fertilizers: irrigation allows 2 or 3 crops per year in very small farms. The level of technology is low. Planting and transplanting are usually done by hand(a high input of labour is used).

Activity:4.3. Do you think the yields of this

system are higher than the others we have studied?, Why?, do you think this factor has a relevant influence on Asian population growth?

• Dry areas farming: dry zones of Africa and Asia. These people practice nomadic livestock farming. Agriculture is only possible in oases. Here palm trees shade and protect fruit trees and vegetables from evaporation. Irrigation is used thanks to underground water or even the existence of “wadis”.

5. THE EVOLVED AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES.

• These landscapes can be found in Europe, Oceania, North America, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, but even in some developing countries.

• The agricultural systems are developed, there is a high input of mechanization and technology(chemical fertilizers, tractors, …), the input of labour is usually very low and the yields very high, and there is a large surplus destinated to the international market.

• Extensive commercial farming: It occurs in “new countries”, e.g. US,

Australia or Argentina, especially in continental climate. Plots of land are large(farms are very big, more than 200 Ha.), regular and highly mechanised. Monoculture is practised: it can be arable, e.g. crops of wheat, maize, barley; it can be also pastoral, e.g. cows and sheep.

These landscapes suffer from some problems like soil exhaustion or soil pollution(because of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides).

Activity:5.1. Why do you think the plots of land

in this system are large and regular?

• Plantation agriculture: It takes place in large farms or estates

(40 to 1000 Ha) existing in South-EastAsia, some areas in Africa, Central America and South America. Crops are grown for export. It needs a lot of money for building, planting and making processing factories. They employ many workers and use high levels of technology. They produce coffee, cocoa, sugar ,tea, rubber and palm oil.

These landscapes suffer from some problems like soil exhaustion or soil pollution(because of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides), and from tropical plagues.

• Market gardening: It produces the vegetables, fruit and

flowers that are found in supermarkets. It uses limited land and it is often near urban markets. Although they are perishable products, refrigeration and faster transport allow more distant markets to be served. Market gardens have high inputs, especially labour, and high yields (intensive). A wide range of technology is available, from hand hoes to computer-controlled robots. Some vegetables are grown into greenhouses or using hydroponics.

Activity:5.2. Make an outline with the names of

the agricultural systems.5.3. Make a diagram comparing the

traditional agricultural systems to the evolved agricultural systems.

6. FISHING.

• Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. By extension, the term fishing is also aplied to hunting for other aquatic animals such as various types of shellfish.

World fisheries

• The main world fisheries are on continental shelves and next to sea currents because there is a large amount of plancton in these areas(Western Africa, Northern Atlactic Ocean, Pacific Ocean).

Activity: 6.1. In which countries do you find the most important areas for fishing?

• The countries which consume more fish are: Japan, China, Indonesia, Philipines, USA, Canada, Chile, Russia, Norway, U.K, Spain, Portugal.

Types of fishing

• Deep sea fishing •Shallow water fishing

Fishing techniques

• Trawling: is a method of fishing that involves actively pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats.

• Seining: a seine is a large fishing net that hangs vertically in the water by attaching weights along the botton edge and floats along the top.

• Gillnetting: a gillnet is a wall of netting set in a straight line, equipped with weights at the bottom and floats at the top, and is usually anchored at each end.

• Fishing lines: fish are caught with a fishing line by encouraging a fish to bit upon a fish hook or a gorge that is buried in the bait. Long line fishing is a commercial fishing technique that uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line.

• Fishtraps: pot-traps are baited to atract fishes and periodically lifted. Pots are weighted to rest on the bottom, with marked buoys at the surface. They are typically used to catch crustaceans.

Commercial fishing

• Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using large nets and sea-going processing factories.

• The development of refrigeration and freezing technologies transformed the commercial fishing industry: fishing vessels could be larger, spending more time away from port and therefore accessing fish stocks at a much greater distance..

Activity:6.2. What is the differenc between

shallow water fishing and deep sea fishing?

Problems on fishing

Pollution Overfishing

Main solutions for overfishing

• Creating exclusive economic zones (EEZ), an area extending 200 nautical miles seaward from the coast in which a country has sovereign rights to explore and explote marine resources.

• Restrictions or quotas. International treaties limit the fishing effort.

• Aquaculture

• Aquaculture is the cultivation of the natural produce of water (such us fish or shellfish). Fish farming is a common kind of aquaculture.

• The traditional raft system consist in a wooden structure with rectangular shape, and with 4 or 5 floaters, made with steel and covered with glass fiber. There are new designs made of polyethilene.

Activity:6.3. Where is the exclusive economic

zone of a country on the sea located?