Population and settlement
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1. What is meant by economic activities?
2. What are the different types of economic activities?
3. What are the locations of the different economic activities in the Caribbean?
Economic activities are undertaken with an economic motive. Therefore, is selling fruits on the streets of Montego Bay considered an economic activity? We will begin by defining the term ‘economic activity’.
1. Economic activity is the production, distribution and consumption of commodities.
2. Economic activities are related to production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services.
3. It is simply the set of activities carried out by human beings to satisfy their needs.
CATEGORIES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
PRIMARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
These economic activities are directly tied to the extraction of resources on the earth. These economic activities occur at the beginning of the production cycle, where people live in close contact with the resources of the land.
Primary economic activities produce basic food stuff and raw materials for secondary industry; for example, pastoral farming, crop cultivation, forestry, mining, logging and fishing.
So in summary, primary economic activities are those activities undertaken: a. By using natural resources directly. b. By extracting raw materials from the earth. c. To form the base for all other products that we subsequently make.
SECONDARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
These economic activities add value to the raw materials by changing their form, or combining them into useful and, hence, more valuable commodity. Examples are: a. Milk production from pastoral farming. b. Textile production from cotton farming. c. Furniture production from logging . d. Manufacturing and processing industries are included in this phase of the production process.
So, in summary, secondary economic activities:
a. Entail use of extracted raw materials to produce or manufacture semi-finished or finished goods (something new and more valuable).
b. Is the next step after primary, where the product is not produced by nature but has to be made, and where natural products are changed into other forms through ways of manufacturing.
TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
This category consists of those businesses and labour specialisation that provide services to the general community.
They include professionals such as teachers, professors, lawyers, medical officers, clerical and personnel services. Others include professions such as postal services and musicians.
In summary, those activities which provide services, personal and professional services.
QUATERNARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
These economic activities are composed entirely of services rendered by white-collar professionals working on management and information processing and disseminating.
In summary, these activities are high-tech service industries that carry out research and provide information and advice.
LOCATION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
a. Primary economic activities are located at the site of the natural resource being exploited; for example, iron mining at the site of the iron deposit.
b. Secondary economic activities are located either at the site of the resource or close to the market for the manufactured/processed good, depending upon labour costs, energy costs, availability of capital, land, resources and expertise.
i. In the case of lumbering, the finished product is cheaper to ship than the raw materials, so lumber mills are located close to forests to minimise costs (and maximise profit).
ii. In the case of flour and bread, it is cheaper (and easier) to ship wheat than the finished product, bread. Consequently, bakeries are located close to consumers in cities, again to minimise costs.
c. Tertiary economic activities are located where services are required – where people are.
d. Quaternary economic activities are not tied to resources, the environment, or access to a market.
i. With improvements in telecommunications, these economic activities can be located anywhere.
ii. Factors which do tend to affect the location of ‘high-tech’ economic activities include:
1. Access to universities and research centres.
2. Access to a pool of highly trained and skilled workers.
3. Availability of venture capital.
4. Proximity to places with high quality of life attributes (scenery, recreation, climate, quality education system).
5. Access to excellent transportation and communications networks.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN THE CARIBBEAN
Mining, drilling, tourism and agriculture are key economic activities in the Caribbean. These activities fuel business and investment in developing regions. While agriculture remains a traditional way of earning income and is a vital part of a sustainable economy, it has given way to tourism, mining and drilling as a mainstay of the Caribbean economy.
MINING
Petroleum, natural gas, bauxite, gold and asphalt are some of the underground natural resources that attract mining and drilling interests.
Jamaica and Guyana have aluminum and bauxite reserves.
Trinidad and Tobago has extensive drilling operations in petroleum, natural gas and asphalt.
AGRICULTURE
Caribbean nations produce and export bananas, citrus fruits, cocoa, sugar cane, mangoes and coconuts. The Caribbean has fertile land where farmers plant their crops, although subsistence farming is not as popular as it used to be. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana have lucrative sugar industries. Banana farms in the Caribbean are situated in Belize, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica and St Lucia.
In the Caribbean, there are a number of secondary economic activities. For example:
MANUFACTURING
Food processing, oil refining, produced chemicals, construction materials, plastic goods, paints, pharmaceuticals, cartons, leather goods, cigars and assembled electronics, textiles and apparel, are all examples.
Jamaica: Caribbean Cement, Edgechem, Lasco, Petrojam, Alcor Windows and Doors, etc. Most of Jamaica’s manufacturing companies are located in the Kingston Free Zone. There are quite a few in St Catherine, too; for example, Jamaica Producers has a factory in McCook’s Pen, and Lasco’s factory and distribution centres are near Ferry.
Trinidad and Tobago: Many industries are found in the Point Lisas area.
In the Caribbean, tertiary economic activity is:
TOURISM
The Caribbean, due to its global location in relation to North America and Europe, in addition to its warm, tropical climate, is a hub for tourism activity. This can be seen especially in countries such as Barbados, where there is the
annual Rum, Wine and Food Festival and the festivities surrounding Crop Over. During the week of Crop Over festivities there are Pic O’ di Sand and Kohablopot, which end in Grand Kadoment.
In Dominica, there is the World Creole Festival, while in the Bahamas and Jamaica there are the Junkunnoo Festival and the Jazz and Blues Festival, respectively. In addition, some countries have fancy hotels and resorts, such as in Anguilla, where there is a vast amount of five-star hotels and resorts, such as the world famous ‘Vice Roy’ and ‘Kaptaluca’. Jamaica also has Half Moon and Iberostar.
CALL CENTRES
Recently, the Caribbean has become a hotspot for outsourcing services in the world. Business process outsourcing in the form of call centres have been established. This is especially true in Jamaica, where Sutherland and electronic companies such as Panasonic have set up operations in Jamaica in the major central business district of New Kingston. The establishment of these centres has not only provided employment for the masses, but has, also led to an increase in the gross domestic product for the island.
In this lesson, we have looked at economic activities, which are simply industries created for economic motives. This can be categorised into primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, where primary industries are based on extracting natural resources, while secondary industries involve adding value to natural materials, and tertiary industries involve the service sector. In the next lesson, we will examine the factors that influence the development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.