Edwards proclaims today Agriculture Day in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) – Governor John Bel Edwards signed an official proclamation on Monday declaring March 21, 2017 Agriculture Day in Louisiana.

National Ag Day is also being celebrated in communities and schools across the country today.

The day is organized by the Agriculture Council of America and Governor Edwards says a great debt is owed to the hardworking men and women who raise the quality produce and livestock that all Louisiana families depend on daily.

“Given the two historic floods in March and August, 2016 was a difficult year for many farms, both large and small. I hope that proclaiming Louisiana Ag Day demonstrates our appreciation for the important work being done by this industry to keep our families healthy and productive, especially when that work is most challenging.” said Governor Edwards.

Louisianians depend on a consistently strong $13 billion annual agriculture industry, with about 60% of Louisiana’s agriculture income generated by crops and 40% by livestock and livestock products.

In terms of income generated, the top five agricultural products in the state are sugar cane, rice, cattle, soybeans and cotton.

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Positive Outlook For Agricultural Sector

Parliament – Agriculture output is expected to increase as South Africa recovers from a crippling drought, which National Treasury is hoping will boost job creation in the sector.

According to the 2017 budget review tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday, two successive seasons of drought had led output falling for seven consecutive quarters.

The outlook had, however, changed, as rains returned to parts of the country.

According to a table in the review illustrating the relationship between demand, output and employment, "for every R1 million of extra output in agriculture, the economy creates 3.9 unskilled jobs and one skilled job, and overall output in the economy increases by R1.7 million".

Although the outlook on agriculture was mostly positive, treasury explained the importance of the containment of the current spread of fall army worms, which if overlooked, could threaten cereal crop production.

Over the next three years, government would spend more than R5.5 billion on comprehensive agricultural support programmer conditional grants to provide around 435,000 subsistence and smallholder farmers with equipment, fencing, fertilizers, seedlings, improved extension services and repairs to flood-damaged infrastructure.

Gordhan said: "Expenditure is expected to grow to R29.8 billion by the 2019/20 financial year, at an average annual rate of 4.7 percent, accounting for 1.9 percent of total government spending over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework period." 

For More Information:- Andrea Chothia