ISLAMABAD: The agriculture sector of the country is estimated to grow by 3.81 per cent during the fiscal year 2017-18 against the growth of 2.07 per cent in 2016-17 and 0.15 per cent in 2015-16, showing considerable improvements as compared to the last couple of years.
Among the agriculture sector, the crops sector witnessed 3.83 per cent growth, with important crops growing by 3.57 per cent and others crops by 3.33 per cent, according to the latest data available for six to eight months and projected for the whole year.
During the year 2016-17, the growth of crops was recorded at 0.91 per cent while there was a recorded negative growth of 5.27 per cent in 2015-16, the provisional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates revealed.
The Cotton Ginning sector was the top contributor in terms of percentage to help the agriculture sector achieve this growth rate as this sector grew by 8.27 per cent during the period under review.
Cotton ginning had witnessed 5.58 per cent growth in 2016-17 and a negative growth of 22.12 per cent in the financial year 2015-16.
Similarly, the livestock sector grew by 3.76 per cent in 2017-18 against the growth of 2.99 per cent in 2016-17, and 3.36 per cent in 2015-16.
The forestry sector also grew by 7.17 per cent in 2017-18, which had witnessed a negative growth of 2.37 per cent in 2016-17 and positive growth of 14.31 per cent in 2015-16.
The fishing sector also witnessed a positive growth of 1.63 per cent in 2017-18 against the growth of 1.23 per cent in 2016-17 and 3.25 per cent in 2015-16, the data revealed.
The provisional GDP estimate for the year 2017-18 has been estimated at 5.79 per cent, the data revealed, adding that the industrial and services sectors growth was recorded at 5.80 per cent and 6.43 per cent respectively.
Very informative but where are the farmers real issues related marketing of his produce and the surity of profit on the production cost.