Human activities which generate income are known as economic activities. Grouped into primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary groups;

Primary activities refer to utilisation of earth’s resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials and minerals. It, thus includes:

Hunting and Gathering,
Pastoral activities, Fishing and forestry,
Agriculture, and
Mining and quarrying.

Hunting and gathering:

The earliest human beings depended on their immediate environment for their sustenance. They subsisted on:

Animals that they hunted; and
Edible plants which they gathered from forests in the vicinity. (particularly in harsh climatic conditions)

Subsistence Gathering:

Gathering in harsh conditions often involves primitive societies, who extract both plants and animals to satisfy their needs. It requires practically no capital investment and operates at a very low level of technology. However, the yield per person is very low and little or no surplus is produced.

Such Gathering is currently practised in:

High latitude zones which include northern Canada, northern Eurasia and southern Chile;
Low latitude zones such as the Amazon Basin, tropical Africa, the Northern fringe of Australia and the interior parts of Southeast Asia.

Gathering Today

In Modern days, the gathering is market-oriented and has become commercial.

The gatherer collects valuable plants – leaves, bark and Medicinal plants and after simple processing sells the product in the market.
For example, Bark is used as quinine, and tannin extract and cork – leaves supply materials for beverages, drugs, cosmetics, fibre, thatch and fabrics; nuts for food and oils and tree trunk yield rubber, balata, gums and resins.

Pastoralism:

Domestication of Animals started possibly because hunting was not always sustainable.

Nomadic Herding

Nomadic herding or pastoral nomadism is a primitive subsistence activity, in which the herders rely on animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport.

Herders move from one place to another along with their livestock, depending on the amount and quality of pastures and water. Each nomadic community occupies a well-identified territory as a matter of tradition.

Regions and animals domesticated:

Nomadic herding is practised in different regions of the world:

In tropical Africa, cattle are the most important livestock,
in the Sahara and Asiatic deserts, sheep, goats and camels are reared.
In the mountainous areas of Tibet and the Andes, yak llamas and
in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, reindeer are the most important animals.

Pastoral nomadism is associated with 3 important regions:

Core region: extends from the Atlantic shores of North Africa eastwards across the Arabian Peninsula into Mongolia and Central China.
Second region: over the tundra region of Eurasia.
In the Southern Hemisphere: small areas in South-west Africa and on the island of Madagascar.

Transhumance:

It is the process of migration from plain areas to pastures on mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters.

In the Himalayas, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis and Bhotiyas migrate from the plains to the mountains in the summers.
In the Tundra region: pastoral nomads move from North to South.
The number of pastoral nomads has been decreasing, due to the imposition of political barriers and New settlement plans by different countries.

Commercial livestock rearing:

It is more organized and capital-intensive than nomadic herding – essentially associated with Western cultures and practised on permanent ranches – large and divided into several parcels – fenced to regulate grazing.

A specialised activity: only one kind of animal is reared: sheep, cattle, goats and horses.
New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay and the USA are important countries where commercial livestock rearing is practised.

Agriculture:

Subsistence Agriculture:

Subsistence agriculture is defined as one in which the farmers consume all, or nearly so, of the products grown. There are two categories of subsistence farming:

Primitive Subsistence Farming
1. Intensive Subsistence Farming

Primitive Subsistence Agriculture:

Primitive subsistence farming or shifting cultivation is widely practised by many tribes in the tropics, especially in Africa, south and Central America and Southeast Asia.

We can identify primitive subsistence farming through the following characteristics:

Very primitive tools: sticks and hoes are used; after some time, soil loses fertility and the farmer shifts to another part. But fertility becomes less and less due to loss of fertility in different parcels.
Vegetation is usually cleared by fire and ashes add to the fertility of soil: Slash and burn. It is prevalent in tropical regions under different names, For example,Milpa in Central America and Mexico and Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Slash and Burn in India

The slash-and-burn technique has been used in India for a long time. However, its prevalence is negligible now. It was known across India by different names:

Jhum in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland;
Pamlou in Manipur,
Dipa in Bastar.
Bewar or Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh,
Podu or penda in Andhra Pradesh,
Pama Dabi or Koman or Bringa in Odisha,
Kumari in the Western Ghats,
Valre or Waltre in South Eastern Rajasthan,
Khil in the Himalayan belt, and
Kuruwa in Jharkhand.

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture:

Found in densely populated regions of Monsoon Asia. Two types:

Dominated by wet paddy cultivation: Land holdings are very small due to the high density of the population. Farmers work with the help of family labour leading to intensive use of land. Use of machinery is limited and most of the agricultural operations are done by manual labour. Farmyard manure is used to maintain the fertility of the soil. In this type of agriculture, the yield per unit area is high but per labour productivity is low.
Dominated by crops other than paddy: Due to the difference in relief, climate, soil and some of the other geographical factors, in many parts of monsoon Asia. Wheat, soybean, barley and sorghum are grown in northern China, Manchuria, North Korea and North Japan. In India wheat is grown in western parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains and millets are grown in dry parts of western and southern India. In such crops, irrigation is often used.

Plantation Agriculture:

It was introduced by Europeans in colonies situated in the tropics.

Plantation crops: tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, oil palm, sugarcane, bananas and pineapples.

Characteristic features of Plantations:

Large estates or plantations,
Large capital investment,
Managerial and technical support,
Scientific methods of cultivation,
Single crop specialisation,
Cheap labour, and
A good system of transportation links the estates to the factories and markets for the export of the products.

History of Plantation

Europeans had set up large numbers of plantations all around the world during colonial times. We have covered these topics in detail in our history textbooks.

French established cocoa and coffee plantations on a large scale in West Africa.
British set up

large tea gardens in India and Sri Lanka,
rubber plantations in Malaysia and
sugarcane and banana plantations in the West Indies.

Spanish and Americans invested heavily in coconut and sugarcane plantations in the Philippines.

Dutch once had a monopoly over sugarcane plantations in Indonesia.

Some coffee Fazendas (large plantations) in Brazil are still managed by Europeans.

Extensive Commercial Grain cultivation:

The size of the farm is very large, therefore entire operations of cultivation from ploughing to harvesting are mechanised.

It is practised in interior parts of semi-arid lands of mid-latitudes. Wheat is the principal crop, though other crops like corn, barley, oats and rye are also grown.

Regions:

Best developed in European steppes,
Canadian and American Prairies,
Pampas of Argentina,
Velds of South Africa,
Australian Downs and
Canterbury Plains of New Zealand.

Mixed Farming:

Mixed farms are moderate in size and usually, the crops associated with them are wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, fodder and root crops. Fodder crops are an important component of mixed farming. Crop rotation and intercropping play an important role in maintaining soil fertility.

Regions: It is practised in highly developed parts of the world, For example, N-W Europe, Eastern North America, parts of Eurasia and the temperate latitudes of Southern continents.

Characteristic Features:

Equal emphasis is laid on crop cultivation and animal husbandry. Animals like cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry provide the main income along with crops.
High capital expenditure on farm machinery and building,
Extensive use of chemical fertilisers and green manures and
Skill and expertise of the farmers.

Horticulture:

Fruits and Vegetable crops are classified as Horticulture crops. There are high-value crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers, often produced solely for the urban markets.

Characteristics of Horticulture crops:

Farms are small and are located where there are good transportation links with the urban centre where a high-income group of consumers is located.
It is both labour and capital-intensive and lays emphasis on the use of irrigation, HYV seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, greenhouses and artificial heating in colder regions.
Well developed in densely populated industrial districts of northwest Europe, northeastern US and Mediterranean regions. For example, the Netherlands specialises in growing flowers and horticultural crops, especially tulips.

Around the world, highly specialised horticulture techniques have emerged such as Mediterranean Agriculture and Truck farming.

Mediterranean Agriculture:

It is a highly specialised commercial agriculture practised in Europe and North Africa from Tunisia to the Atlantic coast (Algeria and Morocco), South California, Central Chile, South Western parts of South Africa, and Southern and South-Western parts of Australia.

Advantage of Mediterranean agriculture: It is highly profitable for the more valuable crops such as fruits and vegetables which are grown in winter when there is great demand in European and North American markets.
Important supplier of Citrous fruits: Viticultureor grape cultivation is a speciality of the Mediterranean region. Best quality wines in the world with distinctive flavours are produced from high-quality grapes in various countries of this region. The inferior grapes are dried into raisins and currants.
This region also produces olives and figs.

Truck farming:

The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only – The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight.

Modern development in industrial regions of Western Europe and North America: factory farming.
Livestock, particularly poultry and cattle rearing, is done in stalls and pens, fed on manufactured feedstuff and carefully supervised against diseases.
Requires heavy investment: building, machinery etc for various operations.

Dairy Farming:

It is the most advanced and efficient type of rearing of milch animals. It has the following characteristics:

Highly capital intensive: Animal sheds, storage facilities for fodder, feeding and milching machines. Special emphasis is laid on cattle breeding, health care and veterinary services.
Highly labour intensive: involve rigorous care in feeding and milching. There is no off-season.
Technology Intensive: refrigeration, pasteurisation and other preservation processes have increased the duration of storage of various dairy practised mainly near urban and industrial centres which provide a neighbourhood market for fresh milk and dairy products. The development of transportation, and refrigerated products.

Commercial regions of dairy Farming:

The largest regions of commercial dairy farming around the world are:

North-western Europe is the largest Region.
Canada
South Eastern Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania.

According to farming organisations:

Co-operative Farming:

When a Group of farmers pool their resources voluntarily for more efficient and profitable farming it is known as cooperative farming. Agricultural Cooperatives are generally Producers cooperatives. For example, Anand Cooperative in Gujarat is formed by the milk producers of the state.

This concept originated over a century ago and has been successful in many Western European countries like Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy etc. In Denmark, the movement was so successful that practically every farmer is a member of a cooperative.

Cooperative farming has the following advantages:

It helps farmers, to procure all important inputs of farming at a bargain price.
Farmers can sell the products at the most favourable terms and help in the processing of quality products at cheaper rates.
It can help the organisation to produce important infrastructure for processing and storage of the farm produce.

Collective farming:

Collective farming or “Kolkhoz” was introduced in the erstwhile Soviet Union to improve upon the inefficiency of the previous methods of agriculture and to boost agricultural production for self-sufficiency.

Mechanism of Collectivisation:

The basic principle is based on Social Ownership of the means of production and collective labour.
The farmers pool in all their resources like land, livestock and labour to grow for the national needs. However, they were allowed to retain very small plots to grow crops in order to meet their daily requirements.
Yearly targets were set by the government and the produce is also sold to the state at fixed prices. Produce over the fixed amount is distributed among the members or sold in the market. The farmers have to pay taxes on the farm products, hired machinery etc.
Members are paid according to the nature of the work allotted to them by the farm management. Exceptional work is rewarded in cash or kind.

The problem of the system:

Often lands were taken forcefully from the farmers, which was widely the case in the Soviet Union and China.
No freedom for the farmer to grow crops of their own choice.
No incentive to invest in the productivity of the land.

Farming in the Soviet and China failed miserably due to collectivisation.

Surely Cooperative farming is a better concept than collective farming and therefore it was adopted in India on a large scale, but with huge challenges of corruption and mismanagement within the cooperatives.

MINING:

Mining is one of the oldest primary activities. The discovery of minerals brought the Copper Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

However, the actual development of mining began with the Industrial Revolution and its importance is continuously increasing.

Factors Affecting Mining Activity:

Physical factors include the size, grade and mode of occurrence of the deposits.
Economic factors such as the demand for the mineral, technology available and used, capital to develop infrastructure and labour and transport costs.

Methods of Mining:

Depending on the mode of occurrence and nature of ore:

Surface or open-cast mining is the easiest and cheapest way of mining minerals that occur close to the surface. Overhead costs such as safety precautions and equipment are relatively low. Output is large and rapid.
Underground or shaft method: deep below the surface: Vertical shafts have to be sunk, from where underground galleries radiate to reach minerals – from where they are exported and transported to the surface through these passages. It requires specially designed lifts, drills, haulage vehicles, and ventilation systems for the safety and efficient movement of people and materials.

This method is risky. Poisonous gases, fires, floods and caving in lead to fatal accidents.

Realted FAQs of Human activities

1. What are primary economic activities and why are they important?

Primary economic activities involve the direct use of natural resources like land, water, and minerals. These include farming, fishing, mining, forestry, and animal rearing. They form the backbone of rural economies and provide raw materials for secondary and tertiary sectors.

2. How is subsistence gathering different from commercial gathering?

Subsistence gathering is practiced by indigenous communities for their personal needs using primitive tools, while commercial gathering is market-oriented, where resources like medicinal plants, bark, and leaves are harvested and sold for profit.

3. What is the difference between nomadic herding and commercial livestock rearing?

Nomadic herding is a traditional practice where herders move with animals in search of pasture, mainly for personal use. Commercial livestock rearing is modern, organized, and capital-intensive, with large permanent ranches raising animals for sale, mainly in countries like the USA and Australia.

4. Why is shifting cultivation declining around the world?

Shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn is declining due to decreasing soil fertility, deforestation concerns, population pressure, and government interventions promoting settled agriculture. It’s now practiced in limited tribal areas under local names like Jhum, Podu, and Dahiya.

5. What is the difference between cooperative and collective farming?

Cooperative farming is voluntary—farmers pool resources but retain individual land ownership. It’s successful in countries like Denmark. Collective farming, seen in the Soviet Union, involved state-controlled land and labour, often enforced, with limited freedom and failed long-term due to inefficiency and lack of motivation.