The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Production, Fisheries, Cooperatives and Rural Development is taking note of the increase in performance of several food products.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Darius Gabriel, said much of the increase is attributed to non-banana crops.

“Non-banana crops were the flagship in terms of performance last year. Supermarket purchases increased at about 19 percent, and hotel purchases, 15 percent. So non-banana crops performed very, very well,” he said.

Although marginal—an overview of the Agricultural sector’s last fiscal year showed a 0.3 percent growth—Dr. Gabriel said the increase is encouraging.

Among livestock, there was a noted increase in poultry production over the past year. Gabriel said that while the performance of pork products and other livestock decreased, poultry has continued to show increased performance, especially among broilers.

“With respect to livestock, there was mixed performance, mainly due to very significant increases in the cost of livestock feed—a four dollar increase per bag in the cost of poultry feed, and an eleven dollar increase per bag in the cost of feed for swine,” he said.

The Ministry is encouraging stakeholders to take advantage of the opportunities for growth within the sector.