Press Release 21/10/2025

INFORMATION SOCIETY SURVEY. PRIMARY SECTOR. 2025

34.2% of establishments with 10 or more employees in the primary sector had an online presence through a website

94% of establishments in this sector carried out electronic procedures with the different administrations

In 2025, 34.2% of establishments with 10 or more employees in the primary sector in the Basque Country had an online presence through a website, according to Eustat data. If we consider all establishments (both those with fewer than ten employees and those with more than ten), this proportion stood at 8.9%.

Regarding languages that they can be accessed in, Spanish particularly stood out, available in 98.0% of cases; Basque was available in 38.5% of cases; English in 25.3% and other languages in 10.7%.

These websites provided general information on the company (99% of websites), a catalogue of products and services offered (66.2%), and a data privacy statement (61.3%), amongst other options.

The primary sector in the Basque Country continued to improve its ICT equipment in 2025

Furthermore, the primary sector in the Basque Country continued the trend of improving its ICT (Information & Communication Technology) equipment. At the time of the survey, in 2025, 80.0% of establishments had a computer and 77.1% had an internet connection. In 2022, these percentages were 77.8% and 73.4%, respectively. Moreover, as stated above, 8.9% of establishments had a website in 2025, compared to 7.7% in 2022. Lastly, 12.5% engaged in e-commerce, when in 2022 this figure stood at 10.6%.

Despite this improvement in ICT equipment, the primary sector was still behind the other sectors of the Basque economy in 2025 where, on average, the availability of computers (95.8%) and internet access (95.5%) continued to be more widespread.

These differences were even greater in the case of having an online presence through a website, electronic data interchange (EDI) and engaging in e-commerce: the average of the total for all sectors was, in the same order, 55.7%, 60.2% and 29.9%, well above the 8.9% of establishments in the primary sector that had a website, the 14.9% that exchanged data electronically (EDI) and the 12.5% that engaged in e-commerce.

One possible explanation for the lower percentages of use in this sector is the small size of the majority of its establishments: 86.6% had 2 employees or fewer, which could make it difficult to access this equipment.

If we take into account the size of the establishments, those with 10 or more employees in the primary sector in the Basque Country had similar ICT equipment to the other activity sectors, with the exception of websites. In establishments of this size in the primary sector, average equipment reached 100% for those that had a computer and access to the internet. However, 34.2% had a website and 16.3% engaged in e-commerce, percentages far below the average of the total for all sectors.

Fishing companies had more ICT equipment than agricultural companies

It is worth noting that, in the primary sector, very different percentages were recorded for agricultural companies and fishing companies, with the latter having higher equipment percentages, even though their weight in the primary sector as a whole stood at just over 4%.

Whilst 79.5% of agricultural companies had access to computers and 76.5% had access to the internet, these percentages rose to 90.7% in both cases for companies in the fishing sector. 8.7% of agricultural establishments and 12.9% of fishing establishments had a website, while 12.3% and 16.6%, respectively, engaged in e-commerce.

These differences were not only due to their different activity, but also because the size of the establishments once again played a role. While nearly all the establishments in the agricultural sector (99%) had fewer than 10 employees, the fishing sector saw a greater balance between companies with fewer than 10 employees (65%) and those with 10 or more (35%).

Other aspects: connection types, procedures with the administration and security measures

Of those establishments with internet access, 80.2% had fixed connections and 94.8% had mobile connections.

Furthermore, 94.0% of primary sector establishments used the internet to carry out some kind of procedure or service with the Public Administration in 2025. These procedures could either be carried out directly, 53.8%, or with third parties (consultancies etc.), 82.3%. If we only take into account establishments in this sector with 10 or more employees, this percentage rises to 100%.

Meanwhile, 65.9% of establishments in the primary sector had some form of computer security measure. Standing out among these measures, with percentages above 20%, were having up-to-date software (57.7%), using secure passwords (57.4%) and external backups (20.9%). In the case of companies with 10 or more employees, all these percentages were higher, with 93.1% of establishments having some form of computer security.

Methodological note: The Information Society Survey -ESI- primary sector is carried out three-yearly.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea/Basque Statistics Institute
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62