Primary sector

In economics, the primary sector is the economic sector which comprises industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite CD.com</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</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 sub-Saharan Africa<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but less than 1% of GDP in North America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In developed countries the primary sector has become more technologically advanced, enabling for example the mechanization of farming, as compared with lower-tech methodsTemplate:Efn in poorer countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> More developed economies may invest additional capital in primary means of production: for example, in the United States Corn Belt, combine harvesters pick the corn, and sprayers spray large amounts of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, 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 secondary and 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>

See also

• Resource curse
• Three-sector model

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

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Economy101.net: The Nature of Wealth