Primary Activities [UPSC Geography Notes]

Human activities which generate income are called economic activities. Economic activities are broadly classified into primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities. Economic activities which are directly dependent on the environment (land, water, vegetation, building materials and minerals) are called primary activities. In this article, you can learn all about primary activities. This is an important part of the UPSC exam Geography segment.

Primary Activities

Primary activities include hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining and quarrying. People involved in primary activities are called red-collar workers due to the outdoor nature of their work.

Gathering and Hunting

Gathering and hunting are the oldest economic activities known. Primitive people survived on animals which they hunted and the edible plants which they gathered from the forests in their vicinity.

Pastoralism

People living in different climatic conditions selected and domesticated animals found in those regions. Depending on the geographical factors and technological development, animal rearing at present is practised either at the subsistence or at the commercial level.

Nomadic Herding

• Also called pastoral nomadism, it is a primitive subsistence activity in which herders depend on animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport. Herders move from one place to another and each nomadic community occupies a well-defined territory as a matter of tradition. A wide variety of animals are reared in different regions.
• In tropical Africa, cattle are the most important livestock, while in Sahara and Asiatic deserts, sheep, goats and camels are reared. In the mountainous regions of Tibet and Andes, yak and llamas and in the arctic and subarctic areas, reindeer are the most important animals reared.
• Nomadic herding is practised in three important regions:

1. The core region extends from the Atlantic shores of North Africa eastwards across the Arabian peninsula into Mongolia and Central China.
2. The second region extends over the tundra region of Eurasia.
3. In the Southern Hemisphere, there are small areas in southwest Africa and on the island of Madagascar.

• Nomadic herders move in search of pastures either vertically from one elevation to another in the mountainous regions or over vast horizontal distances. Transhumance is the practice of migrating from plain regions to mountainous pastures during summers and again from mountainous regions to plain pastures in winters. In tundra regions, the nomadic herders move from south to north in summers and from north to south in winters.
• Due to the imposition of political boundaries and new settlement plans by different countries, the number of nomadic herders has been decreasing and also the areas operated by them are shrinking.

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Commercial Livestock Rearing 

• It is an organised and capital-intensive form of rearing. It is more common in western cultures and is practised on permanent ranches. The number of animals in a pasture is kept according to the carrying capacity of the pasture.
• Rearing of animals in ranching is organised on a scientific basis. Animals reared include cattle, goats, sheep and horses. Their products like wool, meat, hides and skin are processed and packed scientifically and exported to different markets of the world. In commercial livestock rearing, emphasis is laid on breeding, genetic improvement, disease control and health care of the animals.
• Commercial livestock rearing is practised in Australia, Newzealand, Argentina, Uruguay and the United States of America.

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Agriculture 

Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Based on the methods of farming, different types of crops are sown and livestock raised. The main agricultural systems are as follows

1. Subsistence agriculture – It occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families in smallholdings. It is of two types –

a) Primitive subsistence agriculture – Also known as shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture. In this form of agriculture, the cultivated patches are very small and cultivation is done with the help of primitive tools like sticks and hoes. The vegetation is usually cleared by fire and the ashes add to the fertility of the soil. After a few years, the soil loses its fertility and then the farmer clears another patch of the forest for cultivation (shifting). In the north-eastern states of India, shifting agriculture is called Jhuming, in central America and Mexico, it is called Milpa and Ladang in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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b) Intensive subsistence agriculture – This form of agriculture is practised in densely populated regions of monsoon Asia. There are two types of intensive subsistence agriculture –

• Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by wet paddy cultivation. This form of agriculture is characterised by dominance of the rice crop. The yield per unit area is high but productivity per labour is low as most of the agricultural operations are done by manual labour.
• Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by crops other than paddy such as soybean, sugarcane, sorghum and vegetables. Wheat is grown on western parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains and millets are grown in dry parts of western and southern India.

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2. Plantation Agriculture – This type of farming is done on large estates, and requires large capital investment , managerial and technical support, scientific methods of cultivation, cheap labour, single crop specialisation and efficient transportation. The British established large tea gardens in India and Sri Lanka, sugarcane and banana plantations in the West Indies, and rubber plantations in Malaysia. The French set up cocoa and coffee plantations in West Africa. Spanish and Americans established sugarcane and coconut plantations in the Philippines. Now, the majority of these plantations are owned by the government or the nationals of these countries. 
3. Extensive Commercial Grain Cultivation – 

• This type of cultivation is done in the interior parts of semi-arid lands of mid-latitudes. It is best developed in Eurasian Steppes, the Canadian and American Prairies, the Velds of South Africa, the Pampas of Argentina, the Australian Down and the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand. 
• Wheat is the principal commercial crop and other crops like oats, barley, corn and rye are also grown. All the processes of cultivation (from ploughing to harvesting) are mechanised. There is low yield per acre but high yield per person.

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4. Mixed Farming

• This type of farming is practised in developed parts of the world, north-western Europe, eastern-north America, parts of Eurasia and the temperate latitudes of southern continents. 
• The crops grown in this type of farming include wheat, oats, rye, barley, maize, fodder and root crops. Fodder crops are an important component of mixed farming. The farms are moderate in size and soil fertility is maintained by crop rotation and intercropping. In this form of farming, equal importance is given to crop cultivation and animal husbandry. Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry provide the main income along with crops. Mixed farming is characterised by heavy capital expenditure on farm machinery and building, extensive use of chemical fertilisers and green manures and also by the skill and expertise of the farmers.

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5. Dairy Farming-

• Dairy is the most advanced and efficient type of rearing of milch animals. A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk, mostly from cows or buffaloes, and also from sheep, goats or camels for human consumption. 
• A dairy farm produces milk and a dairy factory processes it into a variety of dairy products. The development of transportation, refrigeration, pasteurisation and other preservation techniques have increased the duration of storage of various dairy products. 
• Special emphasis is laid on cattle breeding, health care and veterinary services. It is highly labour intensive and there is no off season during the year.
• There are three main regions of commercial dairy farming. The largest is north-western Europe, the second is Canada, and the third includes south-eastern Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania.

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6. Mediterranean Agriculture –

• This is found in the areas surrounding Mediterranean Sea which have mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers, and also in those areas with a similar climate- central and southern California, central Chile, the south west Cape Province, and south and south western parts of Australia.
• Grape cultivation (viticulture) is a speciality of the Mediterranean region. Best quality vines in the world are produced from high quality grapes in various countries of the world. The region is also famous for its olives and figs. Also, valuable crops such as fruits and vegetables are grown in winters where there is great demand in European and North American markets. 

7. Market Gardening and Horticulture –

• It involves the cultivation of high value crops like fruits, vegetables and flowers, for the urban market. It is both capital intensive and labour intensive. It lays emphasis on the use of irrigation, high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, fertilisers, greenhouses, insecticides and artificial heating in colder regions.
• This type of agriculture is found in industrial districts of north-west Europe, north-eastern United States of America and the Mediterranean regions. The Netherlands is well known for growing flowers and horticultural crops especially tulips. 
• The farming which is associated with the cultivation of vegetables only is known as truck farming because the distance of farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight.
• Factory farming is a modern development in the industrial regions of western Europe and North America. Livestock, particularly poultry and cattle rearing, is done in stalls and pens. These are fed on manufactured feedstuffs and carefully supervised against diseases. One of the important features of factory farming is breed selection and scientific breeding.

8. Co-operative farming-

• A co-operative society is formed by a group of farmers by pooling in their resources voluntarily for more efficient and profitable farming. In cooperative farming, individual farms remain intact.
• Co-operative farming has been successful in many western European countries like Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands and Denmark.
• Co-operative societies help farmers to procure important inputs of farming, sell the products at the most favourable terms and help in processing of quality products at cheaper rates.

9. Collective farming –

• Collective farming or the model of Kolkhoz was introduced in the erstwhile Soviet Union to improvise the previous methods of agriculture and to increase agricultural output for self-sufficiency. 
• The farmers used to pool in all their resources like land, labour and livestock. They were allowed to retain only small plots to grow crops in order to meet their daily requirements. 

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth. Minerals have been used since ancient times for the purpose of making tools, weapons and utensils. However, the advanced development of mining began with the industrial revolution. 

Methods of mining – Mining is of two types-

1. Surface mining or open-cast mining- It is the mining technique of extracting minerals that occur close to the surface of earth. Safety precautions and equipment cost are relatively low in this method.
2. Underground mining or shaft mining – It is the mining technique of extracting minerals that lie deep below the surface. In this method, vertical shafts have to be sunk, from where underground galleries radiate to reach the minerals. Minerals are extracted and transported to the surface through these passages. This technique requires specially designed lifts, drills, haulage vehicles, and a ventilation system for safety and efficient movement of people and materials. This method can pose threat to workers as poisonous gases, floods, fires and caving in lead to fatal accidents.

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