Agriculture sector growth rate on downward trend

The agriculture sector is expected to record a growth rate of 0.04 per cent signifying a down turn from the revised target of 3.6 per cent, Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Mr Seth Terkper told parliament on Friday.

Mr Terkper who announced this in Parliament house during the presentation of the 2016 budget statement, attributed the slump in growth to the crops subsector which is expected to record a negative.

He said all other agricultural subsectors are projected to register positive growth rates in 2015, mainly driven by the livestock and fishing subsectors.

“Agriculture, however, is expected to register a growth of 0.04 percent, a decline from the revised target of 3.6 percent,” he said.

The Crops subsector, in spite of being the only subsector that is expected to record a negative growth, will be the source of this decline on account of the subsector’s large weight, he added.

However, he noted that growth in the Industry Sector was estimated to be driven by strong growth performances in the construction and water and sewerage sub-sectors.

Mr Terkper pegged the construction growth rate at 30.6 percent while the water and sewerage is likely to grow by 15.6 percent.

“This is in stark contrast to their performances in 2014 when construction stagnated, and water and sewerage contracted,” Terkper said.

“Manufacturing and Mining and Quarrying, are both expected to record negative growth rates. However, petroleum, which is a part of the latter, is expected to record a growth of 2.0 percent