PRIMARY SECTOR IN COLOMBIA: CHARACTERISTICS AND IMPORTANCE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The primary sector in Colombia makes up a large part of the economy of that country. Its main strength lies in agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, livestock and beekeeping.

The primary sector is all those economic activities that have to do with obtaining resources from nature, and that do not involve complex industrial transformation processes to be consumed or commercialized.

Some of these sectors are currently high in scope, while others are under development and have very good projections, both to respond to domestic demand and to become export products.

The climatic and geographical characteristics of Colombia make it suitable for many of the activities of the primary sector.

For example, Colombia has a great diversity of fish, which makes it ideal for fishing and aquaculture; It also has a variety of floral species, which favors the development of beekeeping.

Colombia also has a warm and harmonious climate that allows the cultivation of different products in a sustained and continuous way, without many risks of suffering damages due to climatic reasons.

You may be interested 10 Main Economic Activities in Colombia.

Characteristics of the primary sector in Colombia

farming

Agriculture is one of the most important activities of the primary sector in Colombia. The most widely cultivated products are cotton, bananas, sugar cane, rice, potatoes, avocados, cocoa and, of course, coffee, among other products.

Colombia runs a program called "Colombia Siembra", which began in 2015 and plans to be in effect until 2018.

Through this system, the aim is to increase the agricultural supply, improve the technology used in the sector, promote the export of products and, ultimately, offer possibilities for greater agricultural development.

Among the activities carried out by the "Colombia Siembra" program, the granting of incentives and subsidies for the cultivation of certain products, such as corn, rice, passion fruit, pineapple and granadilla, among others, stand out.

It also seeks to offer easy access to resources destined to obtain machinery, which translates into the development of plantations.

The objective of “Colombia Siembra” is to increase the number of hectares planted in the country by one million.

You may be interested What are the Natural Resources of Colombia?

Fishing

The fishing sector in Colombia has had ups and downs in recent years. Although it is not a product as consumed internally as in other countries in Europe or Asia, it is estimated that Colombians do include this food in their diet, and that the demand for fish has been increasing more and more.

Figures from official bodies indicate that 43,000 tons were produced in 2016, as opposed to the 133,000 tons that were produced between 1990 and 2000.

This is incongruous with the enormous wealth of fish that Colombia has: around two thousand species are found throughout the country.

Despite this situation, the Colombian State has carried out different initiatives through which it seeks to give due importance to this sector.

For example, in 2011 the National Authority for Aquaculture and Fisheries was created, with the intention of strengthening the activities of the sector.

Aquaculture

Aquaculture refers to the rearing of aquatic organisms in a captive environment. In Colombia, a third of aquaculture production is represented by artisanal fishermen, and a large part of aquaculture is made up of freshwater fish farming.

According to official bodies, in 2016 the aquaculture sector experienced significant growth.

103,000 tonnes were produced, reflecting the development of fish farming, which experienced an annual increase of 15%.

Data indicate that, since 2008, the aquaculture sector has produced more specimens than the so-called capture fisheries sector.

Given the more or less constant growth that this practice has experienced, aquaculture is considered an economic activity of great relevance for Colombia, which may cease to be a secondary practice and play a leading role in the development of the country's economy.

Cattle raising

The livestock sector in Colombia has a large participation. It is estimated that some 500 thousand Colombian families make a living from livestock, making the livestock sector one of the most productive in Colombia.

Livestock currently presents certain conflicts regarding the land it uses. Representatives of the sector indicate that cattle ranching uses some 14 million hectares throughout the country, and only 2.7 million hectares are properly conditioned to receive livestock.

This situation generates the increase of arid soils, it damages biodiversity and even the capacity of these lands to be able to cultivate.

In response to this situation, Colombia is carrying out a program called "Sustainable Colombian Livestock", from which it seeks to increase the growth of the livestock sector through a conscious and friendly use of the environment.

Among the objectives set by this program are:

• The 5% increase in milk and meat production, per hectare, in the intervened areas.
• The granting of an incentive to the worker who joins the program
• The provision of technical assistance that allows the worker a better performance.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the sector that is responsible for raising bees. From this aging a main product is generated: honey.

Colombia has a great diversity in terms of flora, a characteristic that makes it a great world producer of pollen. Therefore, beekeeping is an activity that can have great projection.

Another advantage that Colombia has for the development of beekeeping is its temperate climate without extreme temperature variations, which allows the bees to remain healthy and not die in high proportions.

Despite the fact that it is a sector with less scope, in 2000 more than two thousand Colombians specialized in this practice, and the high consumption of honey in the population makes it necessary for there to be more than twenty thousand beekeepers to respond to the said demand.

Examples of large companies in the primary sector

-Olam International. It is a multinational company based in Singapore. In Colombia, it concentrates its production in the agricultural categories coffee, cocoa and teak. It is one of the largest coffee exporters in the country.

-Fedepapa. Colombian Federation of Potato Producers. It groups 90 thousand paper growers, who produce between 2,700,000 and 3,000,000 tons per year, which are cultivated on 123,500 hectares.

-Association of Banana Growers of Colombia (Augura). It brings together businessmen and banana marketing companies from the Urabá region. They export 73% of their production to Europe. In 2016, the export of bananas was 93.4 million boxes.

-Colombian Carnations (Clavecol). It is the largest producer and exporter of flowers in Colombia. the largest, with some 200 hectares planted and sales of more than 20 million dollars.

-Hypermar. Producer and marketer of shrimp and other artisanal fishing species in Tumaco, Nariño. With monthly sales of over 400,000 kilos of fish and shellfish.

Other important sectors of the Colombian economy

Apart from agriculture and other activities of the primary sector, there are other important sectors of the Colombian economy.

For example, the manufacturing industry and the oil industry, which are located in the secondary sector and tourism, commerce, transport, banking and finance, which correspond to the tertiary sector.

Along with the strength of the Colombian primary sector, large companies have grown in the country, dedicated to agricultural and fishing activities.

Within the Secondary sector are the manufacturing and oil industries:

Manufacturing industry

The manufacturing industry contributed US $ 32,612 million to the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2015, according to official figures, which represents 12.2% of total GDP. It is the fourth most important and representative productive activity of the national economy.

The growth of industrial sectors such as food and beverages, metal products, bakery and the manufacture of rubber products, has been remarkable.

Likewise, the textile, automotive, chemical and petrochemical industries have not only maintained their historical levels of growth but have also raised them.

Hydrocarbon Industry

Colombian oil production has grown dramatically in the last two decades. Thanks to the absorption of qualified labor from Venezuela, large investments in extraction and refining areas, and the use of new technologies, Colombia increased its daily crude oil production to more than one million barrels per day.

Colombia is currently the fourth largest oil producer in Latin America and ranks sixth on the continent.

As for the gas industry, production is located at 9 billion cubic meters.

Tourism and others

In the tertiary sector is tourism, one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, commerce and banking.

Currently, the number of annual visitors that Colombia receives is 1.2 million (2015). This represents a revenue of $ 5.2 billion.

Internal and external trade, together with transportation and financial activity, also constitute other very important areas of the country's economic activity.

After the signing of free trade agreements with the United States, Mexico and Canada and with Asia and other countries, exports of primary and industrial products have increased.

Articles of interest

Secondary sector in Colombia.

Tertiary sector in Colombia.

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