Growth in the agriculture sector has shrunk, according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

Reading the 2022 budget in parliament on Wednesday, 17 November 2021, Mr Ofori-Atta said: “The agriculture sector recorded an average growth of 4.9 per cent in the first half of 2021 compared with 8.1 per cent for the same period in 2020”.

The sector, he noted, “grew by 4.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the first and second quarters respectively, compared with 10.2 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the corresponding quarters of 2020”. 

He said the forestry and logging subsector recorded the highest average growth performance of 5.8 per cent in the first half of 2021, representing a significant increase from the average contraction of 8.1 per cent recorded in the corresponding period in 2020. 

The crops (including cocoa) subsector grew by an average of 4.7 per cent over the first half of 2021, based on growth performances of 4.9 per cent and 4.5 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively.

This average growth, Mr Ofori-Atta noted, “is a significant slowdown from the 9.5 per cent recorded over the same period in 2020”.

However, he added, the “cocoa subsector performed strongly, with an average growth of 11.2 per cent over the first half of 2021, compared to 0.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year”. 

Also, the fishing sector “contracted in the first quarter by 3.6 per cent but recovered considerably in the second quarter with a growth of 12.7 per cent, resulting in an average growth of 4.6 per cent over the first half of 2021”.

“This, however, represents a slowdown compared with the average of 18.1 per cent recorded over the same period in 2020”, he noted.