51 | JPs: Jurnal Riset dan Pengembangan Ilmu Pengetahuan THE PREEMINENCE OF AGRICULTURE AS A LEADING SECTOR IN GORONTALO UTARA Sriwahyuni Palia, Mahludin Baruwadi, Ria Indriani Department of Agribusiness, Postgraduate Program, Gorontalo State University ABSTRACT Gorontalo Utara manages agricultural sectors as the main activator in the field of agribusiness. This is evidenced by the contribution of agricultural sectors. Agricultural sectors pose its dominancy in the Regional Gross Domestic Product in Gorontalo Utara by 43.68%. This research aims to analyze the preeminence of agricultural sectors as a leading sector in Gorontalo Utara. The research method used was a survey built upon secondary data. The findings indicate that agricultural sectors highlighted the preeminence of Gorontalo Utara as the best area for coconut plantations, horticulture (chilis, bananas, and ginger), animal farming (cows, goats, and horses), forestry, and fish farming (skipjack tunas, sardinellas (lemurs), shrimps, carps, and nile tilapia). Keywords: Agricultural Subsector, Localization Analysis, Location Quotient Analysis, Specialization Analysis, INTRODUCTION Indonesia is a country with vast natural resources. It comes with wealthy water, land area, forest, sea, and biodiversity resources which spread in the islands of Indonesia. The natural resources are one of the capitals of economic development in Indonesia. Several optimizing attempts, one of which for agricultural sectors, especially in the primary commodity, should thus be made (Widyawati, 2017). Agricultural sectors play a major part in fulfilling primary needs, clothes, and housing. Also, it gives opportunities for those who are looking for jobs, highly contribute to national income, provide foreign exchange for the country, and has high economic multiplier effects with low dependence on imports. Developing agricultural sectors aims to fulfill the needs of food and nutrition and elevate the community income (public welfare) (Lisdiyawati, 2017). Gorontalo Utara is well-known for its agricultural sectors which are the primary activator in the field of agribusiness. This is evidenced by the large contribution of the sectors. The sectors dominate the establishment of Regional Gross Domestic Product in Gorontalo Utara by 43.68%. The domination is supported by the land area of 5,256 and the non-rice field area of 76.086. Besides, it is also sustained by the livelihood of the majority of the Gorontalo Utara community, which is 15,262 in number, working as farmers. As such, an increase in agricultural sectors implies an increase in the income of the majority of the Gorontalo Utara community. Furthermore, agricultural sectors were predominant by 1,426,579.6 in 2017 (Statistics Indonesia in Gorontalo Utara: 2017).