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Domestic Crop Production Up 20.3 Per Cent

By: , September 1, 2021
Domestic Crop Production Up 20.3 Per Cent
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, addressing a recent virtual press conference.

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The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is reporting a 20.3 per cent increase in domestic crop production for the April to June 2021 quarter, over the corresponding period last year.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, said outputs moved from 170,027 tonnes in 2020 to 204,594.8 tonnes this year.

“The quarter has produced a new record for domestic crop production. For the first time in the history of our country that we are recording domestic crop production in quarters, we have passed the 200,000-tonnes mark. I think that is testament to our hard-working farmers,” he said during a recent virtual press conference.

Minister Green said year-to-date production has increased by more than 8.9 per cent for the first six months of 2021.

“Preliminary estimates indicate that the sector not only produced 204,595 tonnes, representing a 6.6 per cent improvement over the first quarter of 2021, but that was reaped from 13,031 hectares, which represents a 12.9 per cent increase in the areas under production. This highlights that we are seeing greater participation in the sector, but also, thankfully, we are seeing greater productivity from our hard-working farmers,” he informed.

Mr. Green explained that vegetable production increased by 27.8 per cent and is now at 15,222.4 tonnes for the June quarter.

“Our condiment production went up by 20 per cent, our plantain production went up 25 per cent, and our yam production went up by 19.8 per cent, taking our total yam production for the quarter to 6,780 tonnes,” he informed.

Minister Green said significant growth was recorded in livestock over the review period.

“We saw a 4.8 per cent increase in egg production over a similar period in 2020. Last year was our best production in years for eggs on record, so we are continuing on that trajectory and we did see a 5.05 per cent increase in poultry meat production,” he added.

The Minister indicated that key to the increase were the various campaigns and intervention programmes by the Ministry as well as favourable weather conditions.

“I definitely believe that the increase in production and productivity was influenced by the Ministry’s team and the strong intervention that we had on the ground. We intervened to promote market stability,” he said.

Mr. Green said the Ministry’s ‘Say Yes to Fresh’ programme has also driven local consumption, adding that “the farmers are telling [us] that they are seeing increased demand in almost every area that they produce; so that, for us, is good news”.

Last Updated: September 1, 2021

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