Contribution of Agriculture and Agri-Food Sectors to the Economy of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is a small country in the Caribbean. Between 1996 and 2005, the economy of Trinidad and Tobago grew at an average annual rate of 8.14%. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP at current prices fell from 1.4% in 2002 to 0.6% in 2006. Over this period also the average annual growth rate of the agricultural sector in real terms was -0.09 %. All Caribbean countries have seen the relative decline of agriculture as other sectors, particularly tourism and banking and finance have risen in relative importance in the economies. The main propositions of this paper are: that in Trinidad and Tobago, the “agri-food” sector has shown greater growth and contribution to the economy than agriculture; and that the growth of the agri-food sector has been accompanied by the declining importance of the “agriculture” component. The results showed that for every 10% drop in the percentage contribution of agriculture to agribusiness, there was an approximate 1% increase in the level of agricultural exports from the USA to Trinidad and Tobago. The study showed that in Trinidad and Tobago, the “agri-food” sector has shown greater growth and contribution to the economy than agriculture. Whereas the agri-food sector has grown over the last 20 years at a rate of growth per annum of 9.2%, and still makes about a 5% contribution to GDP, agriculture grew at an annual rate of 5.5% and now makes less than a 1% contribution to GDP. Also, whereas over the data period agriculture was making a declining contribution to the agri-food sector, the “Restaurants” sub-sector was making a rapidly increasing contribution to the agri-food sector.