REVIEW OF THE ECONOMY 2013
26
SUSTAINING GROWTH, SECURING PROSPERITY
AGRICULTURE
OVERVIEW
The agricultural sector is expected to register
a strong performance in calendar 2013
with growth of 5.1 percent. This follows on
contractions of 0.1 percent and 4.9 percent
in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The sector is
expected to be boosted in 2013 by output from
large commercial farms as Government seeks
to both reduce the nation’s food import bill and
also generate surplus produce for export. In this
regard, reports have already surfaced that the
entryofoutput fromthe large farmsontothe local
market is serving to drive down prices for several
crops below some farmers’ costs of production.
Notwithstanding the improved outlook for 2013,
the contribution of the agricultural sector to real
GDP is expected to remain unchanged at 0.7
percent for a fourth successive year.
Overall, the performance of the domestic
agricultural sector was relatively mixed during
the October 2012 to March 2013 period. Whilst
favourable weather conditions and increases
in acreage under cultivation benefited some
commodities; competition from imports, labour
shortages and rising costs of inputs constrained
the sector. The Ministry of Food Production
has reported increases in output for cassava,
yams, sweet potato, melongene, pumpkin,
cucumbers, water melon, ochroes, oranges,
grapefruit, pineapples, paw paw, broilers, dairy,
and honey. Declines in production were however
reported for dasheen, eddoes, cabbage, lettuce,
cauliflower, tomatoes, dasheen bush, sweet
peppers, hot peppers, bodi, and paddy.
DOMESTIC AGRICULTURE
Root Crops
Cassava production increased by 15.2 percent
to 239,032 kilogrammes in the October 2012 to
March 2013 period, from 207,436 kilogrammes
during October 2011 to March 2012. This
increase was due to additional acreages under
cassava cultivation and favourable weather
conditions. Yam production rose by 57.2
percent to 36,580 kilogrammes, from 23,266
kilogrammes, on account of favourable weather
conditions and improved planting material.
Sweet potato production also rosemore sharply,
by 58.7 percent to 632,060 kilogrammes, in the
2012/2013 period, from 398,188 kilogrammes
oneyear earlier.Thiswasonaccount of increased
sweet potato acreage under cultivation due to
greater emphasis being placed on supplying
sweet potatoes for the local food processing
industry.
In contrast, the production of dasheen fell by
15.0 percent to 149,834 kilogrammes from
176,369 kilogrammes in the 2011/2012 period,
as many farmers chose to devote more acreage
to dasheen bush rather than dasheen. Likewise,
eddoesproductiondeclinedby30.7percent from
35,756 kilogrammes to 24,764 kilogrammes due
to unfavourable weather conditions.
Vegetable Production
The performance of the vegetables sub-sector
was mixed. Increases in production were
recorded for a number of crops including:
melongene (27.2 percent), pumpkin (15.8
percent), cucumber (13.9 percent), water melon
(25.4 percent) and ochroes (24.5 percent).
Declines in production however occurred for:
cabbage (17.2 percent), lettuce (24.6 percent),
cauliflower (3.9 percent), tomatoes (19.0
percent), sweet pepper (12.5 percent), hot
peppers (23.5 percent) and bodi (14.1 percent).
Paddy Production
Rice production decreased by 25.0 percent
to 1,500 metric tonnes during the October
2012 to March 2013 period, from 2,000 metric
tonnes in the corresponding 2011/2012
period. This reflected lower rice yields due to
adverse weather conditions and disease, which
THE REAL ECONOMY
