Concept:
- A good way to test the claim is to compare a country that only sells raw materials with one that processes them, and see which ends up stronger.
- The comparison shows why economic strength is judged by industry rather than by natural wealth alone.
Step 1: Compare on the value of what is sold.
A country that exports raw cotton earns only the price of the cotton. A country that spins it into yarn, weaves cloth and stitches garments earns many times more from the same cotton.
Converting raw material into a finished product of higher value is what makes nations prosperous.
Step 2: Compare on the kind of employment created.
Farming alone cannot absorb a growing population, and disguised unemployment builds up in the villages. Factories create regular jobs in the secondary sector and pull along transport, trade, banking and repair work in the tertiary sector.
Employment therefore becomes wider and steadier.
Step 3: Compare on what happens to agriculture itself.
Where manufacturing is weak, the farmer works with the same old tools. Where it is strong, the farmer gets tractors, pump sets, fertilisers and pesticides, and farm output rises.
So industry does not compete with agriculture but strengthens it.
Step 4: Compare on poverty and regional balance.
Industrial jobs raise household incomes and pull families out of poverty. Locating industries in backward and tribal regions spreads income to areas that farming alone could never lift.
Step 5: Compare on standing in the world.
Exports of manufactured goods bring foreign exchange, which pays for imports of machinery, crude oil and technology. A country dependent only on selling raw materials stays at the mercy of world prices.
Final Answer: On every test, value earned, jobs created, support to farming, removal of poverty and strength in world trade, the country with developed manufacturing comes out ahead. That is why economic strength is measured by it.