primary sector of the economy

{{Short description|Industry of raw materials and unprocessed food}}

{{Economic sectors}}

The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of economics|last=Chand|first=S. N.|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|year=2006|isbn=81-269-0535-2|location=New Delhi|pages=268|oclc=297507928}}{{Cite CD.com|primary producer|language=en|access-date=2019-12-10}}{{Cite book| publisher = Copenhagen Business School Press DK| isbn = 978-87-630-0194-6| last = Kjeldsen-Kragh| first = Søren| title = The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development: The Lessons of History| date = 2007| pages = 73}}

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{{Cite web| title = Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) {{!}} Sub-Saharan Africa| work = World Bank Open Data| access-date = 2019-07-14| date = 2018| url = https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?locations=ZG}} but less than 1% of GDP in North America.{{Cite web| title = Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) {{!}} North America| work = World Bank Open Data| access-date = 2019-07-14| date = 2018| url = https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?locations=XU}}

In developed countries the primary sector has become more technologically advanced, enabling for example the mechanization of farming, as compared with lower-tech methods{{Efn|Often using non-powered equipment, sometimes even hand-picking and hand-planting}} in poorer countries.{{cite web|url= http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS/countries/1W-US-C5?display=graph|title= Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) - Data|website= data.worldbank.org}} 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.H Dwight H. Perkins: Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 31, No. 1, China's Developmental Experience (March 1973)