Question.
Differentiate between primary and secondary activities.
(Class 12 geography, Fundamentals of Human Geography, Chapter-6. Secondary Activities )
Answer.
On the basis of occupational structure, and level of use of skills and knowledge, economic activities are classified into the following five categories:
- primary activities
- secondary activities
- tertiary activities
- quaternary activities
- Quinary Activities
Following are the differences between primary activities and secondary activities:
Primary activities include economic activities such as hunting, farming, fishing, animal husbandry, mining, etc., while secondary activities include economic activities such as the manufacturing of goods and construction activities.
Primary activities are those economic activities that involve obtaining materials directly from the natural environment such as land, water, air, etc while Secondary activities are economic activities that involve adding value and processing the final products of materials obtained from primary activities. For example, sugarcane is the end product of primary activities which are obtained from the natural environment (after the cultivation of sugarcane on suitable land and climate) whereas the sugarcane industry is the secondary industry processing sugarcane.
The dependence of primary activities is more on natural factors like land, climate, water, weather, etc. than on secondary activities.
Primary activities involve the production of goods of low value whereas secondary activities involve the production of goods of higher value than the primary activities. For example, the iron and steel industry uses iron ore as raw material but the value of iron ore (end product of primary activity) is much lower than that of steel (end product of secondary activity).
The end product of primary activities has limited utility while the end product of secondary activities has more utility because secondary activities increase the utility of the products. For example, iron ore has little utility but when it is converted into steel, the utility increases because steel is used to make many things like machines and tools.
The area where most people are involved in primary activities is called a rural area whereas the area where most of the people are involved in secondary activities is called the urban area.
People working in primary activities do not require much skill and knowledge whereas working in secondary activities requires specific skills and knowledge.
Areas whose economy is mainly based on primary activities are usually less developed, those regions whose economy depends on secondary activities are more developed. For example, the economies of most developing countries and African countries are dependent on primary activities, so they are the least developed compared to European and North American countries because their economies are largely dependent on secondary activities.
You may like also:
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon