Page 161 - SST Class 08
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Agriculture
Agriculture is the basis of all civilizations. It is part The primary activities include the extraction of raw
of everything from the food we eat to the clothes materials from the earth’s surface. The main primary
we wear. Agriculture shapes many of the tradi- activities are hunting, food gathering, pastoralism,
tions and values that this country was built on. fishing, forestry, mining and agriculture.
Agriculture is the science, art and occupation of The secondary activities include the processing of raw
producing crops, raising livestock, and cultivating materials and converting them into finished goods of
the soil. higher value. The main secondary activities are
industries, such as making of steel from iron ore and
weaving of cloth.
The tertiary activities include all types of services
which support the primary and secondary activities.
The main tertiary activities are transport, trade,
education, banking, insurance and advertising.
With the spread of agriculture as a global activity,
great progress has been made in every aspect of
crop production, such as ploughing, sowing,
Agriculture also includes : irrigation, weeding and harvesting. Human
g processing, financing, marketing and distri- beings have also developed various means and
bution of agricultural products. techniques to increase agricultural production. It
g farm production supply and service indus- was necessary to meet the increasing demand of
tries. food for the growing population.
g the use and conservation of land and water The introduction of farm machinery helped to
resources. increase the crop production and brought more
area under cultivation. Agriculture provides not
g health, nutrition and food consumption.
only food for human beings and animals, but it is
g development and maintenance of recre-
also the main source of raw material for indus-
ational resources.
tries, such as textiles, sugar and oil. It also acts as
g related economic, sociological, political,
a consumer of industrial products like farm
environmental and cultural characteristics of
machinery, fertilizers and pesticides. The prosper-
the food and fiber system. ity of the industrial sector depends upon agricul-
tural prosperity.
FACTORS INFLUENCING AGRICULTURE
The different economic activities performed by
human beings are broadly grouped into three Farmers make decisions about what to grow,
types—primary, secondary and tertiary. what animals to keep, the level and type of
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