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Portugal Crops and Livestock
In 1990 wheat was the leading Portuguese grain crop,
followed
by corn, which was grown mainly on the small farms of the
north.
Rice, although occupying less than one-tenth of the area
of
either wheat or corn, was a significant grain crop.
Potatoes and
corn silage were found throughout the north.
Portugal's leading edible tree crop was olive oil. In
spite
of the importance of olive oil for the economy and the
increasing
production of other edible oilseeds, such as safflower and
sunflower, Portugal was a net importer of vegetable fats
and
oils. The country produced a variety of horticultural
crops, some
of which were exported. As an example, Portugal was a
leading
world exporter of tomato paste.
In the mid-1980s, over 300,000 hectares were in
vineyards,
and Portugal was one of Western Europe's major producers
and
exporters of wines. The most important vineyards were
located in
the northern valleys of the Rio Douro, Rio Mondego, and
Rio Lima,
but vineyards were also found in the Algarve and the
Setúbal
Peninsula. Portugal's dessert wines--port and
muscatel--and rosé
wines, notably Mateus, were well known abroad. Portuguese
red and
white table wines were less well known outside of the
country,
but their export and reputation were gradually increasing.
Crop yields, as noted above, and animal productivity
remained
well below those of Portugal's European counterparts as of
the
early 1990s. Yields of dryland crops and pastures were low
by EC
standards, but yields on irrigated land and in the
alluvial soil
areas of the Ribatejo were comparable with EC member
countries.
Portuguese grain-crop yields (kilograms per hectare) were
less
than a third of those in (Federal Republic of Germany
(West
Germany) and France and about 60 percent of those in
Greece (see
table 7, Appendix). Portugal's wheat, corn, and barley
yields
compared unfavorably with its European counterparts.
Portuguese
rice, grown on irrigated land, showed yields only about 14
percent below those of France and about 25 percent below
those of
Spain and Greece.
Although pastureland was scarce, livestock constituted
a
significant share of total agricultural production.
Because of
growing domestic demand for animal products and low
livestock
productivity, Portugal had to import about 10 percent of
its meat
requirements. Three-fourths of the mainland's milk was
produced
in the northwest's coastal areas.
The mainland's livestock numbers in 1987 included over
1.3
million head of cattle, over 5 million sheep, nearly 3
million
pigs, and 745,000 goats. About 18 million chickens
supplied the
country's poultry industry that year.
Data as of January 1993
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