Geography and Environment

By the end of this unit, you must be able to categorise the types of various economic activities and their importance on development.

Unit objectives
By the end of the unit, you must be able to:
(a) define an economic activity
(b) state the types of economic activities
(c) identify the importance of various economic activities.

Economic activities

Work in groups of three under the guidance of your teacher.
1. Go outside the school and look around.
2. Identify and describe the activities that people do to earn some money.
3. Tell your teacher what the people who live near you at home do to earn some money.
4. Why do the people do the activities that you have mentioned above?
5. Record your findings in class.
6. Present your findings in a class discussion.

An economic activity is an action that involves the production, distribution and
consumption of goods and services.

Types of economic activities
There are three main categories of economic
activities.
• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary
(a) Primary economic activities

In pairs, study the following photographs and answer the questions that follow.

1. Identify the activities taking place in each of the photographs.
2. Give the products of each activity shown in the photographs.
3. Identify an area in Rwanda where each of the activities shown is carried out.

Primary economic activities are those that involve the extraction of natural resources from the earth. These activities produce food and raw materials for other industries.
In most cases, people who are involved in primary economic activities live closer to the areas where the resources are found.
Examples of primary economic activities include crop cultivation, livestock farming,
mining, forestry, fishing and quarrying.

• In crop cultivation, farmers dig the ground and plant seeds. The seeds later germinate into crops that mature. The crops are harvested to obtain food.
• In livestock farming, farmers keep a variety of livestock like cows, sheep, goats and pigs. These animals are kept for their meat, wool and skin.

• In mining, the mineral resources are obtained from the ground through different means. They are then taken for further processing.
• Forestry involves tree harvesting where mature trees are cut down for timber.
• Fishing entails the catching of fish in water using nets and other fishing equipment.

(b) Secondary economic activities

Study the photographs below and answer the questions that follow.

Secondary economic activities are those that utilise the products from the primary economic activities. Secondary economic activities change the raw materials into semi-processed or finished products. This is done by processing or manufacturing.
The raw materials are made more valuable through processing.

Table 13.1 Secondary and primary economic activities.

• In milk production, raw milk from the cows is processed into different milk products that include treated milk, skimmed milk and cheese.
• In textile production, raw cotton from farms is processed into cloth.
• In steel making, iron ore is refined into fine steel.

(c) Tertiary economic activities

Study the photographs below and answer the questions that follow.

1. Identify the services provided in the photographs.
2. For each activity, identify one area in Rwanda where it is carried out.

Tertiary economic activities are those that provide services to people. Examples of tertiary economic activities include transport and communication, tourism, banking, trade, insurance, administration and entertainment. Professionals who provide services include teachers, lawyers
and medical officers.

1. Classify the economic activities in the pictures below as either primary, secondary or tertiary.

                    Fig 13.4

2. Do you see some of these activities taking place near your home or school?
3. Discuss their importance to the community.

Importance of economic activities

Work in groups of three.
1. Discuss the importance of the economic activities that take place near your school or home.
2. Do you think they are of importance to the country? Discuss their importance.
3. Write them down in your note book.
4. Discuss them in your groups and then present your findings in a class presentation.

Economic activities play a very significant role in the sustainable development of a country.

(a) Economic activities provide food for the population, for example, fishing and farming.
(b) Economic activities provide employment to people, for example, those working in plantations or factories.
(c) The sale of products from primary and secondary activities is a source of income to people. This helps to raise the people’s standards of living. Products such as milk are sold to the consumers
and earn the farmers an income.
(d) Economic activities such as processing activities are a source of revenue to the government. This revenue is earned through taxation. The revenue is used for economic development of various
areas of the economy.
(e) Commodities from the economic activities are exported to earn foreign exchange. This revenue is in turn used for economic development of the country.
(f) The economic activities such as dairy or tea farming have led to development of transport and communication networks in the rural areas. For example, the construction of roads has led to
improved accessibility.
(g) The economic activities lead to production of commodities required by people for use. This has enabled people to have access to the basic needs and services. This leads to improved standards of living.
The primary economic activities are a major source of raw materials for industries.
(i) Some economic activities such as tea processing and mining have led to the growth of towns.

(j) Economic activities have led to equitable distribution of goods and services. People who do not produce a commodity are still able to get them easily. This is because they can buy the commodities that they do not have in exchange for money or for other goods and services. Services such as banking, insurance come close to the people who need them.
Improved standards of living and continuous investment into various economic activities leads to sustainable development.

1. Name some of the economic activities that take place in Rwanda.
2. List the products of the activities.
3. State the importance of the activities and products produced to the country and to the immediate community that engages in the activity.
4 Record your findings and present them in class for discussion.

1. Discuss how the government of Rwanda utilises the revenue from the economic activities.
2. Why is it important for the government to develop all areas of the country?
3. Discuss within your group and record your findings in your notebook.
4. Present your findings in a class discussion.

Did you know?
• Most developing countries still engage in primary activities.

• Agriculture remains the main primary activity undertaken by developing nations.
• Developing countries export raw materials to developed countries for processing then buy them back as finished products.
• All the three types of economic activities have a positive economic impact to a country.
• Tertiary activities offer support to both the primary and secondary economic activities.

1. (a) Give examples of primary economic activities in Rwanda.
(b) List some of the employment opportunities in the primary economic activities.
2. (a) What are secondary economic activities?
(b) Give examples of secondary economic activities that take place in your country.
3. (a) Define tertiary economic activities.
(b) Explain the importance of tertiary economic activities to primary and secondary activities.
(c) List some of the employment opportunities in the tertiary economic activities.
4. Outline the main economic activities in Rwanda.
5. Giving examples, explain the importance of the three economic activities to the economy of Rwanda.

• Aeration – is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a substance.
• Aerosol – a substance that is released from a container as a spray.
• Afforestation – establishment of a forest in an area where there was no forest.
• Agroforestry – agriculture that involves cultivation and conservation of trees.
• Alluvial soils – fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds.
• Altitude – the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level.
• Aquatic – relating to water, living in or near water.
• Aquifer – an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock.
• Aspect – the compass direction that a slope faces.
• Axis - an invisible line around which an object such as a planet rotates, or spins.
• Base – a substance that is slippery to touch, tastes bitter and changes the colour of indicators.
• Biodiversity – variety of life in the world.
• Calibrate – mark with a standard scale of readings.
• Canopy – the cover formed by the leafy upper branches of the trees in a forest.
• Capillarity – the process in which a liquid flows in narrow spaces like soil pores

• Cartographer – a person who creates maps.
• Census – an official count or survey of a population.
• Ceramics – things made of clay and hardened by heat.
• Chlorofluorocarbon – a chemical containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. It is mostly used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays.
• Constriction – a place where something has become tighter or narrower; an obstruction.
• Consumption – using up of a resource.
• Continental movement – movement of the earth’s continents relative to each other
• Continents – part of the earth’s crust that rises above the oceans .
• Convectional currents – the transfer of heat by the mass movement of heated particles.
• Coordinates – each of a group of numbers used to indicate the position of a point, line or plane.
• Core – central and innermost part of the earth or other planet.
• Coriolis effect – the force that causes a moving object to change direction, towards the right in the Northern Hemisphere and the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Cosmic – relating to the universe.
• Crest – the top of a mountain or a hill.
• Crust – outer layer of the earth.

• Crystals - a small piece of a substance that is formed when the substance turns into a solid.
• Data – facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.
• Decay – rotting of organic matter through the action of bacteria or fungi.
• Decomposition – the process of rotting.
• Deflect – to cause something to change direction.
• Degree of inclination – the angle at which a piece of land is raised in relation to a point of reference.
• Demography – the study of populations with emphasis on statistics such as births, deaths and income.
• Density – the mass per unit volume of a substance .
• Deploy – to spread out or arrange strategically.
• Deposition – the act or process of depositing.
• Digital – electronic technology that generates, stores and processes data.
• Dinosaur – an ancient reptile of enormous size.
• Disintegration – the process of breaking into pieces.
• Drainage – the process of removing excess water from a substance.
• Drizzle – light rain falling in very fine drops.
• Ecosystem – a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
• Elevation – the height of a geographical location above or below a point of reference.

• Emigration – the act of leaving one’s native country with the intent to settle elsewhere.
• Equatorial trough – the low atmospheric pressure zone that lies between the subtropical high-pressure belts of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
• Erosion – Weathering in which surface soil and rock are washed away by the action of glaciers, water and wind.
• Exotic – originating in a distant or foreign country.
• Extrusive – relating to rock that has been forced out onto the earth’s surface as lava or other volcanic deposits.
• Farmyard manure – the traditional manure that is mostly readily available to the farmers. It is made using cow dung, cow urine, waste straw and other dairy wastes.
• Fauna – the animals of a particular region.
• Fieldwork – practical work conducted by a researcher in the natural environment.
• Flora – the plants of a particular region.
• Foreign exchange – currency from other countries.
• Forest reserve – forests that have been set side and protected by law in a certain country.
• Fossils – preserved remains of things of the old times.
• Gender – the state of being male or female with reference to social and cultural differences.
• Geography – the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere.
It also studies human activities as they affect and are affected by the physical features. This includes the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries.

• Glacial – relating to ice.
• Granule – a small grain or particle of something.
• Gravity – the force that attracts a body towards the centre of the earth. It can also attract a body towards any other physical body with mass.
• Green manure – a fertiliser consisting of growing plants that are plowed back into the soil.
• Haze – a slight obscuration of the lower atmosphere, caused by fine suspended particles.
• Heath – a short shrub with small leaves and pink or purple bell-shaped flowers.
• Horizon – a zone or layer
• Hydrological cycle – this is a continuous cycle where water evaporates, into the air and becomes part of the clouds. It then falls down to earth as precipitation and evaporates again. This repeats again and again in a never-ending cycle.
• Immigration – the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country.
• Impervious – not allowing fluid to pass through.
• Infiltrate – to cause a liquid to enter something like soil through its pores.
• Inorganic – not consisting of living matter
• Insolation – a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time.
• Interstellar gas – gases, and dust that occupy the space between the stars.It provides the raw material for the formation of new stars.

• Intrusive – of or relating to igneous rock that while molten, is pushed into cracks or between other layers of rock.
• Ionosphere – a part of earth’s atmosphere that has a lot of ions from the solar radiation.
• Isotope – a different version of a chemical element.
• Jovian planets – outer planets away from the sun.
• Landform – a natural feature on the earth’s surface.
• Landscape – all the visible features of an area of land.
• Laterally – extending from side to side.
• Lava – hot molten or semi-fluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure.
• Lava ejecta – material ejected out of a volcano such as pumice, ash and tuff.
• Lava flow – a mass of flowing or solidified lava.
• Lay of the land – the natural features of a geographic area
• Light years – The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.
• Loess – a loamy soil deposit formed by wind.
• Louvre – a structure on a roof or window, with side openings for ventilation.
• Lumbering – the process of cutting down trees and turning them into timber.
• Macro-nutrients – nutrients that provide energy and are required in large amounts.

• Mafic rocks – a silicate mineral or rock rich in magnesium and iron that is dark in colour.
• Magma – hot fluid or semi- fluid material below or within the earth’s crust.
• Mantle – a layer in the interior of Earth or another planet.
• Maritime – relating to the sea.
• Matter – a physical substance that occupies space and has mass.
• Metamorphism – alteration of the composition or structure of a rock by heat or pressure.
• Meteorologist – scientists who study the atmosphere. They examine its effects on the environment, predict the weather, or investigate climate trends.
• Micro-climate – the climate of a small area that is different from the area around it.
• Micro-nutrients – nutrients required in small amounts.
• Micro-organism – a living organism that is too small to be seen with the naked eye e. g bacteria.
• Molten – in a semi-liquid state by means of heating.
• Moorland – an area of low-growing vegetation of grass and bushes on acidic soils.
• Murram – a form of clay material used for road surfaces.
• Muslin – lightweight cotton cloth.
• Natural resources – materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain. They include forests, fertile land, water, minerals etc.
• Oblique – aerial photographs taken from a high point at a slope angle.

• Oceanic bed – the bottom of the ocean.
• Offshore – situated at sea some distance from the shore.
• Onshore – situated or occurring on land.
• Organic – relating to or derived from living matter.
• Organic farming – a form of agriculture that depends on techniques like crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control.
• Orographic – resulting from the effects of mountains.
• Oxides – a mixture of oxygen and another element.
• Ozone layer – a layer in Earth’s stratosphere that absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth from the sun.
• Ped – a soil particle.
• Percolate – of a liquid; filter gradually through a porous surface or substance.
• Perennial – lasting or existing for a long time.
• Permeability – the state of a material that causes it to allow liquids or gases
to pass through it.
• Photosynthesis – a process used by plants to convert light energy from the sun, into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the plant’s activities.
• Physical features – the environment: landforms, water bodies, climate, natural vegetation and soils of the earth.
• Planetoid – minor planet
• Plankton – the small and microscopic organisms drifting or floating in the sea or fresh water.

• Plutonic – igneous rock formed by solidification below the earth’s surface.
• Population pyramid – a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population.
• Porous – relating to a rock having spaces or holes through which liquid or air may pass.
• Precipitate – cause (a substance) to be deposited in solid form from a solution.
• Pressure belt – A pressure belt is a band of high and low pressure found every 30 degrees.
• Quarrying – extraction of stones from rocks on the ground.
• Rain shadow – a region with little rainfall because it is sheltered from rainbearing winds.
• Ratio – a relationship between two quantities showing the number of times one value is contained in another.
• Raw materials – a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished products and energy.
• Reforestation – restocking of existing forests that have been depleted or destroyed.
• Refugee – a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.
• Regolith – the layer of loose material covering the bedrock of the earth.
• Relief – the highest and lowest elevation points in an area. Mountains and ridges are the highest elevation points, while valleys are the lowest.
• Revenue – a country’s income from which public expenses are met.

• Ribbon – a long narrow strip of something.
• Run-off – draining away of water from the land surface.
• Satellite – a body that orbits around Earth, any other planet or a star.
• Scarp – a very steep bank or slope.
• Sea level – an average level for the surface of the earth’s oceans from which heights are measured.
• Sea waves – a disturbance on the surface of the sea or lake. It is usually in the form of a moving ridge or swell.
• Sediments – solid fragments of inorganic or organic material that settle at the bottom of lakes or ocean beds. They are carried and deposited by wind, water, or ice.
• Sediments – the accumulation of sand and dirt that settles at the bottom of lakes or oceans.
• Semi-processed – a product that has not been fully processed to completion to create a product.
• Sensitise – make an object or substance sensitive to light.
• Slide – an image on a transparent base for projection on a screen.
• Soil aggregate – groups of soil particles that bind to each other strongly.
• Solidification – to make something into a hard compact mass or a solid.
• Soluble – of a substance able to dissolve in water.
• Sub-surface water – water beneath earth’s surface as part of the water cycle.
• Sublimation – a chemical process where a solid turns into a gas without going through a liquid stage.

• Submarine canyons – is a steep-sided valley cut into the sea floor .
• Tectonic plate movement – theory which states that the Earth’s lithosphere is divided into plates that float over the mantle.
• Terrain – a tract of land considered with its physical features.
• Terrestrial planets – inner planets closer to the sun.
• Tillage – preparation of land for growing crops.
• Topographical map – a detailed, accurate graphic representation of features that appear on the earth’s surface.
• Transverse – extending across something.
• Tributaries – rivers or streams flowing into a larger river or lake.
• Tsunami – a very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.

• Twilight – the soft light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon. It usually occurs at daybreak to sunrise or from sunset to nightfall.
• Ultra-violet – electromagnetic radiation.
• Undulating – to have a wavy shape that rises and falls such as in hills and valleys.
• Vacuum – empty space.
• Volcanic lava – the molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption.
• Vulcanicity – the process through which gases and molten rock are forced out onto the earth’s surface or into the earth’s crust.
• Waterlogged – saturated with or full of water.
• Watershed – a ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river system.
• Zone – an area distinguished from other parts by a distinct feature or characteristic.

                                             References

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