El sector agrario en sus grandes cifras

It is a well-known fact that the agricultural sector plays a moderate role in the gross added product of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. More specifically, its participation rose to 1,7% of the total gross value added at factor cost generated in the Community in 1987, a percentage which is amply exceeded by the 51,4% accountable to services and 46,2% of industry, only comparable with the fishing sector (0,7% of the total). Nevertheless, the agricultural sector has a qualitative importance wich goes beyond that assigned to it by statistics. Indeed, next to specific activities which already have certain significance, the tradicional business of agriculture, as a whole, is of great potencial interest for an economic base which needs new alternativas to reduce the considerable weight of the industrial sector of the region. All this reveals the pertinence of obtaining a deeper knowledge of the agricultural sector, which perhaps does not enjoy the capacity which other activities have for polarising the attention of researchers.