…Maintained steady growth in the last five years
The national economy may not have performed well last year due to the global coronavirus pandemic; however, the agricultural sector is responsible for 26.21% of the annual real Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in 2020 as revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics published in January 2021. The contribution of the sector to the National GDP was on the steady growth in the last five years. In 2016, the sector contributed 24.45 to the GDP, which represents a growth rate of 4.11% when compared with a contribution of 23.11% in 2015.
The sector’s contribution to the annual real GDP surged further in 2017 to 25.08% with a growth rate of 3.45%, which is lower to the growth rate recorded in the preceding year. In 2018, with a growth rate of 2.12%, agricultural sector contribution to national GDP stood at 25.13%. In 2019, agricultural sector contribution to national GDP increased further to 25.16, which is a slight increase when compared with previous year with a growth rate of 2.36%. However, the growth rate in 2020 was small compared to other years but its annual real contribution was greater than other years. In 2020, with growth rate of 2.17%, the sector’s contribution stood at 26.21%, higher than other years.
Quarterly analysis show that the sector grew by 14.03% year-on-year in nominal terms in Q4 2020, showing a rise of 0.23% points from the same quarter of 2019. Looking at the preceding quarter’s growth rate of 13.52%, there was an increase of 0.51% points. The annual growth rate for the agricultural sector stood at 16.73% in 2020, slightly higher than in 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the sector’s contribution grew by 3.42% (year-on-year) in real terms, an increase of 1.11% points from the corresponding period of 2019, and an increase of 2.03% points from the preceding quarter, which recorded a growth rate of 1.39%. It grew on a quarter on quarter basis at –3.93%. Real annual growth rate in 2020 was 2.17%. However, the sector contributed 26.95% to overall GDP in real terms in Q4 2020, higher than the contribution in the fourth quarter of 2019 but lower than the third quarter of 2020, which stood at 26.09% and 30.77% respectively. The annual 2020 contribution stood at 26.21%.
Considering the various activities under the agricultural sector which comprises Crop Production, Livestock, Forestry and Fishing, crop production remained the major driver of the sector, as it accounted for 89.67% of overall nominal growth of the sector in Q4 2020 and 91.44% share in 2020. Quarter on quarter growth stood at –4.98% in Q4 2020. Agriculture contributed 24.23% to nominal GDP in the fourth quarter of 2020, higher than the rates recorded for the fourth quarter of 2019 but lower than the third quarter of 2020 which recorded 23.38% and 28.41% respectively. The annual contribution of agriculture to nominal GDP in 2020 was 24.45%.
