Question.
What are the physical and social factors that affect the type of primary activities in different regions?
(Class 12 geography, Fundamentals of Human Geography, Chapter-5. Primary Activities )
Answer.
Primary activities are those activities that are directly dependent on the environment. Examples of primary activities are fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining.
People perform different types of primary activities depending on the physical and social factors prevailing in different regions of the world.
The following are the physical factors affecting primary activities:
- Climate – Temperature and rainfall are two major factors of climate.
- Relief - plains, plateaus, and hilly areas.
- Soil fertility and soil depth.
- Availability of water for irrigation.
Following are the social factors that influence primary activities:
- Land tenure.
- Land ownership includes social ownership, individual ownership, and collective labor ownership.
- Available infrastructure such as transport, irrigation, and storage facilities.
- Government policy with respect to primary activities.
- The level of economic and technological development in relation to primary activities in society.
- Society's need for food, industry, fodder, etc.
- The share of the population engaged in primary activities.
The physical factors in the desert area do not allow agricultural activities as there is a scarcity of water in the desert area. Animal husbandry, gathering, and mining are the main primary activities in the desert region.
The physical factors of the plains make this region most suitable for agricultural activities as the region has flat land with fertile soil and an abundance of surface and groundwater. Mechanized and commercial farming occurs even in plains where there is high socio-economic development (such as in the prairie regions of the United States and Canada), while subsistence-intensive farming occurs in plains with low levels of socio-economic development, such as in Asia and Africa.
The plateau region lacks fertile soil. In the plateau region, water resources are available only during the rainy season. If irrigation facilities are not available in the plateau region, then subsistence agriculture can be done only in the rainy season. The primary activities of the plateau region are mostly mining as the plateau is rich in mineral deposits.
Jhum cultivation is done in hilly areas where rainfall is sufficient. The region is mainly inhabited by tribes and due to the low level of socio-economic development among the tribes and adequate availability of land, Jhum cultivation is done here.
Fishing is the main activity in the coastal areas as sea water is easily available here which is home to marine fish.
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