THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that crop production accounted for 90.54 per cent of overall nominal growth of the agriculture sector in the first quarter of this year.

NBS made the disclosure in its Quarterly National Accounts (QNA), an integrated system of macroeconomics designed to describe the entire system of production in a nation on a quarterly basis.

The report further disclosed that food services, among others, witnessed a weaker performance relative to Q1 2019 caused in part by the economic sabotage from the current novel coronavirus pandemic situation.

The report reads in part, “Four sub-activities make up the Agricultural sector: Crop Production, Livestock, Forestry and Fishing. The Agriculture sector grew by 22.47% year-on-year in nominal terms in Q1 2020, showing a decline of –0.11% points from the same quarter in 2019”

“Comparing the preceding quarter’s growth rate of 13.80%, this indicates an increase of 8.66% points. Quarter-on-quarter growth stood at –19.58% in Q1 2020.

“Agriculture contributed 20.88% to nominal GDP in the first quarter of 2020, higher than the rates recorded for the first quarter of 2019, but lower than Q4 2019 which recorded 19.10% and 23.38% respectively.”

The report further noted that the agriculture sector in the first quarter of 2020 grew by 2.20% (year-on-year) in real terms – that is without taking into accounts the recent inflation and rise in price.

This, the report added, translates to a decrease of –0.97% points compared to the corresponding period of 2019, and –0.11% points from the preceding quarter which recorded a growth rate of 2.31%.

On a quarter on quarter basis, the report showcased that the real agriculture sector growth was –27.81%.

However, the sector contributed 21.96% to overall GDP in real terms in Q1 2020, slightly higher than the contribution in the first quarter of 2019 but lower than the fourth quarter of 2019 which stood at 21.89% and 26.09% respectively.

On the other hand, the non-oil sector in the first quarter grew by 1.55% in real terms. This, it says, was slower than the -0.93% recorded during the first quarter of 2019.

“In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 90.50% to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2020 less than its share in the first quarter of 2019 which was 90.78% and the fourth quarter of 2019 recorded as 92.68%,” NBS wrote in the report.

The QNA provides a picture of the current economic status of the economy that is more timely and frequent than that provided by Annual National Accounts (ANA).

The report helps the government to assess, analyse, and monitor economic growth on a regular basis.