Western Region - Primary Economic Activities

Question 1

Western region

Answer 1

The western region is a peripheral socio-economic region of Ireland. It consists of the counties Mayo, Galway and, Roscommon.
The region is characterised by a lack of development and unfavourable physical conditions.
This means that the region has a lower standard of living and a high amount of people migrating to cities.
13% of graduates remain in the area.

Question 2

Primary economic activities

Answer 2

Primary economic activities refer to the extraction and use of natural resources.
Agriculture is an example of this

Question 3

Rainfall

Answer 3

The Cool temperate oceanic climate of the Western Region doesn’t favour the development of Agriculture.
The high levels of relief rainfall stunts cereal growth and can make arable crops like wheat more prone to fungal diseases.
The 1,100-1,200 mam of annual rainfall leaches soils and leads to their infertility.

Question 4

Cloud coverage

Answer 4

The high cloud coverage leads to an average of 3 hours of sunshine per day.
This means arable crops like wheat and oats cannot ripen.
This combines with the high levels of precipitation makes arable farming 2% of the total agricultural area of the region.

Question 5

Pastoral farming

Answer 5

Instead conditions are more suited towards growing grass.
This makes pastoral farming more common.
However, because of the cool temperatures and high levels of rainfall, farmers have to house their animals for longer.
They have to purchase extra feeds and silage which adds to the farmers’ expenditure.

The added expenditure means that farmers cannot afford to keep their livestock for more than two years.
Therefore farmers in the region send their cattle to the east to get fattened and then slaughtered for processing factories

Question 6

Markets

Answer 6

Because the region is a peripheral region, it is isolated from the main EU markets.
The low levels of urbanisation and low population density means that there are limited local markets for agricultural produce.
Because of this farmers sell their produce to dealers up north or in the east where they are fattened for factories.
This is less profitable but more convenient.

Question 7

Poorly developed roads

Answer 7

As Galway is the only port, goods must be transported to the east before reaching EU markets.
Transporting goods is expensive due to poorly developed transport networks.
This also means that the goods take longer to get to their selling point which lowers the products shelf life and ultimately its commercial value.

Question 8

Appealing to niche markets

Answer 8

In response to the lack of market options, younger farmers are changing their practices to appeal to niche markets, like hobby farming.

For example, many people use their farmhouses as B&Bs, have pet farms and make foods like jams.

This can make farming more economically viable.