Find Agriculture expertise in Kiribati

Industry

Agriculture, along with forestry and fishing, contributes 26% to the GDP of Kiribati (2010). The main goods produced by the sector include copra, taro, breadfruit, sweet potatoes and vegetables.

Other food crops include bananas, screw-pine, breadfruit and papaya. The state-owned Kiribati Copra Milling Company is the largest agricultural enterprise in the country and produces copra, which is the sole agricultural export and accounts for about two-third of overall export revenue. Production for copra in 2010 was 3,500 tonnes and had an export value of US$1.5 million. It is largely exported to Bangladesh for processing.

Most of the working population is involved in subsistence agriculture. The soil in Kiribati is considered amongst the most infertile in the world, being young, shallow and alkaline, limiting conventional agricultural methods. However, the country has developed a sustainable farming system based on the traditional method of te bwabwai pits, which involves an extensive composting technique using pits dug to a depth of between one and eight metres and then filled with compost. The most common agricultural livestock are pigs, chickens and cattle, largely under a subsistence production system, partly due to the size of the islands. In 2009 agricultural land accounted for 42% of total land area. The Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agriculture Development is the government ministry responsible for the sector.

Agriculture organisations in Kiribati
Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development
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