Primary sector of the economy - wikipedia Primary sector of the economy Economic sectors Three - sector theory Primary sector : raw materials Secondary sector : manufacturing Tertiary sector : services Additional sectors Quaternary sector : information services Quinary sector : human services Theorists AGB Fisher Colin Clark Jean Fourastié Sectors by ownership Business sector Private sector Public sector Voluntary sector The primary sector of the economy is the sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources or exploit natural resources. This includes agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining. In contrast, the secondary sector produces manufactured goods, and the tertiary sector provides services. The manufacturing industries that aggregate, pack, package, purify or process the raw materials close to the primary producers are normally considered part of this sector, especially if the raw material is unsuitable for sale or difficult to transport long distances. Primary industry is a larger sector in developing countries ; for instance, animal husbandry is more common in countries in Africa than in Japan. Mining in 19th - century South Wales provides a case study of how an economy can come to rely on one form of activity. Canada is unusual among developed countries in the importance of its primary sector, with the logging and petroleum industries being two of Canada 's most important. However, in recent years, the number of terminal exchanges have heavily reduced Canada 's primary industry, making Canadians rely more on quaternary industry. Contents 1 Agriculture 2 List of countries by agricultural output 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Agriculture In developed countries primary industry has become more technologically advanced, for instance the mechanization of farming as opposed to hand picking and planting. In more developed economies additional capital is invested in primary means of production. As an example, in the United States corn belt, combine harvesters pick the corn, and spray systems distribute 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 require less workforce and, this way, 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. Developed countries are allowed to maintain and develop their primary industries even further due to the excess wealth. For instance, European Union agricultural subsidies provide buffers for the fluctuating inflation rates and prices of agricultural produce. This allows developed countries to be able to export their agricultural products at extraordinarily low prices. This makes them extremely competitive against those of poor or underdeveloped countries that maintain free market policies and low or non-existent tariffs to counter them. Such differences also come about due to more efficient production in developed economies, given farm machinery, better information available to farmers, and often larger scale. List of countries by agricultural output Main article : List of countries by GDP sector composition See also : List of most important agricultural crops worldwide Largest countries by agricultural output in Nominal GDP, according to IMF and CIA World Factbook, 2015 Economy Countries by agricultural output in 2015 ( billions in USD ) ( 01 ) China 1,088 ( 02 ) India 413 ( - ) European Union 333 ( 03 ) United States 290 ( 04 ) Indonesia 127 ( 05 ) Brazil 110 ( 06 ) Nigeria 106 ( 07 ) Pakistan 63 ( 08 ) Turkey 62 ( 09 ) Argentina 59 ( 10 ) Japan 51 ( 11 ) Egypt 47 ( 12 ) Thailand 47 ( 13 ) Russia 47 ( 14 ) Australia 46 ( 15 ) Mexico 43 ( 16 ) France 42 ( 17 ) Italy 41 ( 18 ) Spain 39 ( 19 ) Vietnam 37 ( 20 ) Iran 36 The twenty largest countries by agricultural output in 2015, according to the IMF and CIA World Factbook. See also Economics portal Three - sector hypothesis Resource curse References Jump up ^ About.com : Sectors of the Economy Jump up ^ Primary Sector in Economic Development Jump up ^ Mining : it 's only a word Jump up ^ http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS/countries/1W-US-C5?display=graph Jump up ^ H Dwight H. Perkins : Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 31, No. 1, China 's Developmental Experience ( Mar., 1973 ) Jump up ^ WTO MINISTERIAL OUTCOME IMBALANCED AGAINST DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Jump up ^ Third World Farmers Hit by Unfair Rules Jump up ^ U.S. subsidies help big business, but crush farmers from renovating countries 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 Economy101.net : The Nature of Wealth Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primary_sector_of_the_economy&oldid=807255233 '' Categories : Primary sector of the economy Economic sectors National accounts Resource economics World economy Hidden categories : Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from August 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Bân - lâm - gú Български Català Cymraeg Dansk Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara Français Furlan Galego 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Italiano Kiswahili Latina Lietuvių Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan Português Русский Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 26 October 2017, at 21 : 28. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: why is primary sector also called agriculture and related sector
Answer: making direct use of natural resources or exploit natural resources