CHAPTER-4
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
- Introduction
- hunting and food gathering
- animal husbandry
- Agriculture
- Mining
Introduction
Economic Activities -
The activities of a human being which give him income are called economic activities. Economic activities are divided into four categories
Economic Activities
- Primary Activities
- Secondary activities
- tertiary activities
- Quaternary activity
Primary Activities
Primary activities are those activities which are directly dependent on the environment
Primary Activities
- Agriculture
- Animal husbandry
- hunting
- Mining
- Fisheries
- Storage
- Forestry
hunting and food gathering
In the early era of human civilization, primitive man used to depend on his surrounding environment for his survival. His survival was done through two activities
(1) Hunting - hunting animals
(2) Food gathering – collecting edible wild plants and roots.
Primitive society was dependent on wild animals. People living in extremely cold and extremely hot regions used to live by hunting. Then gradually technological development took place and people living in coastal areas started fishing. Due to illegal hunting, many species of animals have either become extinct or are endangered. Ancient hunters (shikar) used tools and arrows made of stone or wood, due to which the number of animals killed was limited. Food collection and hunting are the oldest economic activities. This work is done in different forms at different levels in different parts of the world. Food collection is done in two parts of the world
1. High latitude regions which include northern Canada, northern Eurasia and southern Chile
2. Low latitude areas which include the Amazon basin, tropical Africa, Australia and interior regions of South East Asia
In modern times, the work of food collection has also become commercialized in some parts. These people also do the work of selling leaves, bark and medicinal plants of precious plants in the market after generally modifying them. They use different parts of the plant.
Example -
1. Bark - quinine, leather and cork
2. Leaves - beverages, medicines and cosmetics
3. Fibres - making cloth
4. Fruits - for food, oil
5. पेड़ के तने - रबड़, बलाटा, गोंद व राल
animal husbandry
nomadic herding
Commercial livestock farming
Animal husbandry –
When people dependent on hunting realized that life cannot be sustained by hunting alone, then man thought about animal husbandry. People living in different climatic conditions selected the animals found in those areas and domesticated them. On the basis of geographical factors and technological development, animal husbandry is currently done on a business or commercial level.
Nomadic animal herding –
Nomadic animal husbandry has been an ancient subsistence occupation in which the herders depended on animals for their food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport. They used to move from one place to another with their domesticated animals according to the availability and quality of water and pasture. These pastoral groups had their own fixed pasture areas. Different types of animals are reared in different regions. Cattle and bulls are the main animals in tropical Africa; sheep, goats and camels are reared in the Sahara and Asian deserts. Yanks and llamas are reared in the mountainous regions of Tibet and the Andes; reindeer are reared in the Arctic and North Polar regions.
Three main areas of nomadic animal herding -
1. First region - Extends from the Atlantic coast of North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula to Mongolia and Central China.
2. Second region - Broken regions of Europe and Asia
3. Third Region - Southern West Africa and the islands of Madagascar
Commercial livestock farming
Commercial livestock farming is more organised and capital intensive than nomadic animal husbandry. Commercial livestock farming is influenced by western culture and the farms are also permanent. These farms are spread over a large area. The entire area is divided into small units. To control grazing, they are separated from each other by fencing. When the grass of a small area is exhausted due to grazing, then the animals are taken to another small area. In commercial livestock farming, the number of animals is also kept according to the carrying capacity of the pasture. This is a specific activity, in which only one type of animal is reared. The major animals are sheep, goats, cows, bulls and horses. The meat, hides and wool obtained from them are scientifically processed and canned and exported to the world markets. Livestock farming in animal farms is organised on a scientific basis. In this, the main focus is on breeding of animals, genetic improvement, control of diseases and their health. Commercial livestock farming is done in New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay and USA in the world.
Agriculture
- subsistence agriculture
- primitive subsistence agriculture
- Intensive subsistence agriculture
- Intensive subsistence agriculture
- Vegetable farming for market
- extensive commercial grain agriculture
- Mediterranean agriculture
- Co-operative agriculture
- Planting Agriculture
- Dairy farming
- subsistence agriculture
- primitive subsistence agriculture
- Intensive subsistence agriculture
primitive subsistence agriculture
Primitive subsistence agriculture is known by many names
- shifting cultivation
- shearing agriculture
- Combustion Agriculture
- Jhum Cultivation
- Milpa and Ladang
primitive subsistence agriculture
In this type of agriculture, the vegetation of the area is burnt and the layer of burnt ash acts as a fertilizer. This type of agriculture is also called shifting cultivation, slash and burn agriculture. In this, the fields sown are very small and farming is also done with old tools like wood, spade and shovel. After some time (3 to 5 years) when the fertility of the soil ends, then the farmer prepares the land for agriculture by burning the forest in the new area. After some time, the farmer comes back to the earlier agricultural area to do farming. In tropical areas, it is known by different names. In the north-eastern states of India, it is known as Jhuming. In Central America and Mexico, it is called Milpa, in Malaysia and Indonesia, it is called Ladang.
Intensive subsistence agriculture
This type of agriculture is done in densely populated countries of monsoon Asia. There are two types of intensive subsistence agriculture.
1. Rice dominated intensive subsistence agriculture
2. Intensive subsistence agriculture without rice
Rice-dominated intensive subsistence agriculture
Rice is the main crop. Due to high population density, the size of the farms is small and the entire family of the farmer is engaged in agriculture. The land is used intensively and human labour is more important than machinery. To maintain fertility, animal dung manure and green manure are used.
Intensive subsistence agriculture without rice
In many parts of monsoon Asia, it is generally not possible to grow paddy crop due to differences in topography, climate, soil and other geographical factors. Wheat, soybean, barley and sorghum are grown in North China, Manchuria, North Korea and North Japan. In India, wheat is mainly grown in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain and jowar-millet is grown in the southern and western dry regions.
Planting Agriculture
The Europeans colonised many parts of the world and introduced other forms of agriculture such as plantation agriculture, plantation agriculture whose main objective is to earn profit. The European colonies planted tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, sugarcane, bananas and pineapples in the tropical areas under their control.
Feature of plantation agriculture
The size of the agricultural sector is very large. More capital investment, high management and technical base, use of scientific methods. This is mono-cropping - concentration on the production of a single crop, labour is available cheap, transport is developed through which the plantations and markets remain well connected.
France planted coffee and cocoa in West Africa. The British developed tea gardens in India and Sri Lanka, rubber gardens in Malaysia and sugarcane and banana gardens in the Western Islands. The Spaniards and Americans planted coconut and sugarcane plantations in the Philippines. Holland once had a monopoly on sugarcane cultivation in Indonesia. In Brazil, some coffee plantations, called fazendas, are still under the control of Europeans.
extensive commercial grain agriculture
This type of agriculture is done in the inner semi-arid regions of the middle latitudes. Its main crop is wheat. Other crops like maize, barley, rye and oats are also grown. In this agriculture, the size of the fields is very large and all the work from plowing the field to harvesting the crop is done by machines. The area of this type of agriculture is in the steppes of Eurasia, the prairies of North America, the Pampas of Argentina, the Velds of South Africa, the Downs of Australia and the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand.
Mixed farming
This type of agriculture is practiced in the most developed parts of the world, for example, it is spread in the temperate latitude areas of North Western Europe, Eastern part of North America, some parts of Eurasia and Southern continents. In this agriculture, the size of the farms is medium. The main crops sown in it are wheat, barley, rye, oats, maize, fodder crops and tubers. Fodder crops are the main components of mixed agriculture. Both crop production and animal husbandry are given equal importance in it. Along with crops, animals like cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are the main sources of income. The main features of mixed agriculture are more capital expenditure on developed agricultural machinery, buildings, intensive use of chemical and vegetable fertilizers (green manure) etc. along with the skill and ability of farmers.
Dairy farming
Dairy farming is the most advanced and efficient form of rearing of dairy animals. It also requires a lot of capital. More capital is required for providing sheds for animals, storage for storing grass and for using more machinery for milk production. More attention is also paid to the health, breeding and veterinary care of animals. It requires intensive labour. Labour is required throughout the year for grazing animals, milking them etc. Dairy farming is done near urban and industrial centres because these areas are good markets for fresh milk and other dairy products. At present, due to developed means of transport and facilities for pasteurisation, various dairy products can be stored for a longer time. There are three major areas of commercial dairy farming, the largest region is the region of North Western Europe. The second is Canada and the third region is New Zealand, South Eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Mediterranean Agriculture
Mediterranean agriculture is a very special type of agriculture. It is spread in the area near the Mediterranean Sea. This region is important in the supply of citrus fruits. Viticulture is the specialty of the Mediterranean region. In many countries of this region, high quality wines are produced from good quality grapes. Raisins and raisins are made by drying low quality grapes. Figs and olives are also produced here. In winter, when there is a demand for fruits and vegetables in Europe and the United States, then it is supplied from this region.
Vegetable farming and horticulture for market
In this type of agriculture, crops that fetch high returns like vegetables, fruits and flowers are grown which are in demand in urban areas. In this type of agriculture, the size of the farms is small and the farms are connected to urban centres with good transport facilities where high income consumers live. It requires intensive labour and high capital. Apart from this, irrigation, fertilizers, good quality seeds, pesticides, greenhouses and artificial heat in cold areas are also used in this agriculture. This type of agriculture is more developed in North Western Europe, North Eastern part of the United States of America and Mediterranean region, where population density is high in industrial areas. Netherlands has specialization in flower production. From here, horticultural crops, especially tulips (a type of flower) are sent to major cities of entire Europe. In the regions where farmers grow only vegetables, it is called 'truck agriculture'. It has been named truck agriculture on the basis of the distance between the truck farm and the market, which a truck covers overnight. In the industrial areas of Western Europe and North America, apart from horticulture, factory farming is also done. In this, livestock is reared, which mainly includes cattle and poultry.
Co-operative agriculture
When a group of farmers voluntarily forms a cooperative society to earn more profit from their farming and does farming, it is called cooperative farming. Cooperative society helps farmers in every form. This help is for purchasing all the things needed for farming, selling agricultural produce at a fair price and collecting processed resources at cheap rates. The cooperative movement started a century ago and it ran successfully in Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Italy in Western Europe. It got the most success in Denmark where every farmer is its member. This movement was most successful in Denmark, where practically every farmer is a member of this movement.
Collective farm
In collective agriculture, the ownership of the means of production is based on the entire society and collective labour. This type of agriculture started in the former Soviet Union where collective agriculture was started to improve the condition of agriculture and to increase production and to achieve self-sufficiency. This type of collective agriculture was named Kolkhoz in the Soviet Union. All the farmers used to do agriculture by combining their resources like land, livestock and labour. They also used to keep a small part of the land in their possession to fulfill their daily needs.
Mining
Mining is a process in which minerals and other natural resources are extracted from the land. The main purpose of mining is to use these resources for the use of human society. In ancient times, the use of minerals was limited to making tools, utensils and weapons. Its real development became possible only after the industrial revolution and its importance has been increasing continuously. Factors affecting mining work –
(1) Physical factors
Size, category and occurrence of mineral deposits
(ii) Economic factors
The demand for minerals, existing technical knowledge and its use, capital available for development of infrastructure and expenditure on transport and labour
Methods of mining –
There are two types of mining: surface and underground mining. Surface mining is also called opencast mining. This is the cheapest method of mining minerals, because in this method the cost of safety precautions and equipment is relatively less and the production is quick and high.
When the ore is deep below the surface, then the underground or well mining method is used. In this method, vertical wells are located at a depth, from where underground galleries extend to reach the minerals. Minerals are extracted and transported to the surface through these routes.
For safe and efficient movement of workers and minerals extracted, special lifts, augers, goods carrying vehicles and ventilation system are required. This method of mining is risky as there is a risk of accidents due to poisonous gases, fire and floods. Countries with developed economies are withdrawing from mining, processing and refining of production because labour costs are high in it. Whereas developing countries are giving importance to mining to maintain the high standard of living of their countrymen on the basis of their huge labour force.
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