Thank the farmers, agriculture made the difference

The agricultural sector was the top performer of yesterday's economic growth figures. Agriculture makes up a small part of the economy in total, just 2% of GDP, but it contributed a third of the growth of 1.6%. The value of production grew by 19% in the third quarter. The sector represents 5.5% of total employment, and those 873,000 jobs are 5% more than last year. It is specifically field crops, vegetables and fruit that have contributed to the sector's resilience. The value of exports amounted to 8.9 billion dollars in the first eight months of the year. * The Economics Minute is supported by the NWU Business School.