'Primary production' is one of the fundamental sectors of an economy. It includes
agriculture and
resource extraction. In
subsistence economies, primary production is the largest sector.
Primary production has the least
value added. Economies heavily dependent on primary production suffer from the
resource curse and fluctuations in the price of the produced commodity have devastating effects on the entire economy. They tend to become mere raw material providers for more
developed economies, for example
banana republics.