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Seychelles Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources in
1993 gave
up the management of five state-owned farms, which were
divided
into small plots and leased to individuals. In addition,
the
agricultural sector consisted of state farms of the
Seychelles
Agricultural Development Company (Sadeco) and the outer
islands
managed by the IDC; three other large holdings producing
mainly
coconuts, cinnamon, and tea; about 250 families engaged in
fulltime production of foodstuffs; and an estimated 700
families
working on a part-time basis. Many households cultivate
gardens
and raise livestock for home consumption.
The total cultivable area of the islands is only about
400
hectares. Although rainfall is abundant, wet and dry
seasons are
sharply defined. Better irrigation and drainage systems
are
needed to improve food crops. The government has taken
various
measures to reduce dependency on imported foods, including
deregulating production and marketing and reducing the
trades tax
on fertilizers and equipment. As a result, vegetable and
fruit
production climbed from 505 tons in 1990 to 1,170 tons in
1992.
This increase failed to be matched by a commensurate
decrease in
imports of fruits and vegetables, which reached 3,471 tons
in
1992. Local consumption had apparently increased, and
substitution between imported and domestic foodstuffs was
possible only to a limited degree. In most cases, imported
produce is significantly cheaper in spite of air freight,
import
taxes, and other costs, necessitating a high import markup
by the
SMB to prevent disruption of domestic production. Neither
rice, a
dietary staple, nor other grains can be grown on the
islands.
The expansion of livestock production is hampered by
encroachment of housing and other development on
agricultural
land as well as by increased labor and animal feed costs.
The
number of cattle slaughtered in 1992 (329 head) was
virtually
unchanged from five years earlier. The slaughter of pigs
(4,598)
was about 45 percent higher than 1987, and chicken
production
(439,068) had risen by 60 percent.
The two traditional export crops of copra--dried
coconut meat
from which an oil is produced--and cinnamon have declined
greatly
because of the high cost of production and pressure from
low-cost
competitors on the international market. Vanilla, formerly
important, is produced on a very small scale. Tea grown on
the
misty slopes of Mahé is a more recent plantation crop,
serving
mainly the local market.
Data as of August 1994
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