ABSTRACT
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, agriculture remains a key sector of the national economy, despite profound structural changes over the past fifty years. In the 1950s the shares of the agricultural sector were 40 per cent of GDP and 49 per cent of the total labour force. By 2000, it still provides 17 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively. Throughout this period, output growth has been sustained, averaging 2.5 per cent yearly in the 1950s, rising to 3 per cent in the 1960s, slowing down to 2.6 per cent in the 1980s before accelerating at 3.4 per cent in the 1990s. The annual growth target for 2017 is set at 4.1 per cent.
