Primary crops are those which come directly from the land and without having undergone any real processing, apart from cleaning. They maintain all the biological qualities they had when they were still on the plants. Certain primary crops can be aggregated, with their actual weight, into totals offering meaningful figures on area, yield, production and utilization; for example, cereals, roots and tubers, nuts, vegetables and fruits. Other primary crops can be aggregated only in terms of one or the other component common to all of them. For example, primary crops of the oil-bearing group can be aggregated in terms of oil or oil cake equivalent. Primary crops are divided into temporary and permanent crops. Temporary crops are those which are both sown and harvested during the same agricultural year, sometimes more than once; permanent crops are sown or planted once and not replanted after each annual harvest.

FAO, 2001, 'Food balance sheets. A handbook', Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.

Source category: International Organisation