View source for Finance:Primary sector of the economy

{{Short description|Industry of raw materials and unprocessed food}}

The '''primary sector of the economy''' includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of economics|last=Chand|first=S. N.|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|year=2006|isbn=81-269-0535-2|location=New Delhi|pages=268|oclc=297507928}}</ref><ref>{{Cite CD.com|primary producer|language=en|access-date=2019-12-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Copenhagen Business School Press DK| isbn = 978-87-630-0194-6| last = Kjeldsen-Kragh| first = Søren| title = The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development: The Lessons of History| date = 2007| pages = 73}}</ref>

The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in developing countries than it does in developed countries. For example, in 2018, agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised more than 15% of GDP in [[Place:Sub-Saharan Africa|sub-Saharan Africa]]<ref>{{Cite web| title = Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) {{!}} Sub-Saharan Africa| work = World Bank Open Data| access-date = 2019-07-14| date = 2018| url = https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?locations=ZG}}</ref> but less than 1% of GDP in [[Earth:North America|North America]].<ref>{{Cite web| title = Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) {{!}} North America| work = World Bank Open Data| access-date = 2019-07-14| date = 2018| url = https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?locations=XU}}</ref>

In developed countries the primary sector has become more technologically advanced, enabling for example the mechanization of farming, as compared with lower-tech methods{{Efn|Often using non-powered equipment, sometimes even hand-picking and hand-planting}} in poorer countries.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS/countries/1W-US-C5?display=graph|title= Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) - Data|website= data.worldbank.org}}</ref>  More developed economies may invest additional capital in primary means of production: for example, in the United States corn belt, [[Engineering:Combine harvester|combine harvester]]s pick the corn, and sprayers spray large amounts of [[Biology:Insecticide|insecticide]]s, [[Biology:Herbicide|herbicide]]s and [[Biology:Fungicide|fungicide]]s, producing a higher yield than is possible using less capital-intensive techniques. These technological advances and investment allow the primary sector to employ a smaller workforce, so developed countries tend to have a smaller percentage of their workforce involved in primary activities, instead having a higher percentage involved in the [[Finance:Secondary sector of the economy|secondary]] and [[Finance:Tertiary sector of the economy|tertiary]] sectors.<ref>H Dwight H. Perkins: Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 31, No. 1, China's Developmental Experience (March 1973)</ref>

== List of countries by agricultural output ==

{{Bar chart
| float       = center
| title       = Largest countries by agricultural output (in PPP terms) according to the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and CIA World Factbook, at peak level as of 2018
| table_width = 70
| bar_width   = 50 <!-- must be an unformatted number -->
| data_max    = 2,110<!-- Upper bound on the values in the data fields -->
| label_type  = Economy
| data_type   = {{center|Countries by agricultural output (in PPP terms) at peak level as of 2018 (billions in {{wipe|United States dollar}})}}
| label1      = (01) '''{{CHN}}''' | data1 = 2,101
| label2      = (02) '''{{IND}}''' | data2 = 1400
| label3      = (03) '''{{IDN}}''' | data3 = 486
| label4      = {{nowrap|(—) '''''{{EU}}'''''}} | data4 = 352
| label5      = (04) '''{{PAK}}''' | data5 = 284
| label6      = (05) '''{{NGR}}''' | data6 = 253
| label7      = (06) '''{{BRA}}''' | data7 = 209
| label8      = (07) '''{{RUS}}''' | data8 = 196
| label9      = (08) '''{{USA}}''' | data9 = 185
| label10     = (09) '''{{IRN}}''' | data10 = 162
| label11     = (10) '''{{TUR}}''' | data11 = 155
| label12     = (11) '''{{EGY}}''' | data12 = 154
| label13     = (12) '''{{THA}}''' | data13 = 109
| label14     = (13) '''{{VNM}}''' | data14 = 108
| label15     = (14) '''{{BAN}}''' | data15 = 108
| label16     = (15) '''{{ARG}}''' | data16 = 101
| label17     = (16) '''{{MEX}}''' | data17 = 100
| label18     = (17) '''{{PHL}}''' | data18 = 92
| label19     = (18) '''{{MYA}}''' | data19 = 89
| label20     = (19) '''{{ALG}}''' | data20 = 87
| label21     = (20) '''{{MYS}}''' | data21 = 84
| caption     = {{resize|88%|The twenty largest countries by agricultural output (in PPP terms) at peak level as of 2018, according to the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and CIA World Factbook.}}
}}

== See also ==
* [[Finance:Resource curse|Resource curse]]
* [[Finance:Three-sector model|Three-sector model]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* ''Dwight H. Perkins: Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 31, No. 1, China's Developmental Experience (Mar., 1973)''
* ''Cameron: General Economic and Social History''
* ''Historia Económica y Social General, by Maria Inés Barbero, Rubén L. Berenblum, Fernando R. García Molina, Jorge Saborido''

== External links ==
* [http://www.economy101.net/ Economy101.net: ''The Nature of Wealth'']


[[Category:Economic sectors|+1]]
[[Category:National accounts]]

{{Sourceattribution|Primary sector of the economy}}