Agriculture withers in Q1 from drought

Lower crop yields as a result of an extended drought period were the factors responsible for the declines seen across the agriculture sector during the first quarter of this year.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), in its recent review of the Jan-Mar quarter, estimated contractions in output of some 7.6 per cent for the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector. This follows an overall decline of 0.7 per cent within the larger goods producing industry, where key industries such as manufacturing grew by less than one per cent in output as construction declined by 4 per cent. The more dominant mining and quarry industry powered by the resumption of alumina production at the Jamalco refinery stood as the only strong performing subsector witnessing growth of almost 96 per cent.

The agriculture sector, which saw consecutive growth in the last few quarters, previously recorded growth within the range of 6-16 per cent. During the reporting quarter the local economy registered growth of approximately 2.7 per cent above that of the corresponding period of last year.