Agribusiness and Economic Development in Puerto Rico
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Geographically, the Commonwealth is an Antillean archipelago, strategically located at the heart of the Caribbean region and dominated by one main island. With a total territory of almost 13.800 square kilometers, Puerto Rico is somewhat smaller than Connecticut. Currently, Puerto Rico has a total population of 3.6 million on the island, more than 90% of which live in an urban setting, notably the capital city of San Juan with approximately 2.4 million inhabitants. Puerto Rico’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is of US$130 billion. However, its national economy has experienced sluggish and even negative growth in recent years. The Puerto Rican economy is divided into 1% agriculture, 50% manufacturing, and 49% services. Similarly, the agricultural industry employs 2% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs 19% and services employ another 79%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes 22% of the national territory, while another 63% is forested. In recent years, given the ongoing economic hardships and existing federal limits on its foreign trade capabilities, Puerto Rico’s domestic agricultural industry has experienced significant growth.
Agribusiness and Economic Development in Puerto Rico
In terms of natural resources, Puerto Rico has limited amounts of copper and nickel, unexplored onshore and offshore petroleum reserves, and arable land. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on pharmaceuticals, electronics, apparel, alcoholic beverages, and food products. Likewise, a large sector of the Puerto Rican economy is devoted to the tourism and services industry. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products sugarcane, coffee, pineapples, plantains, bananas, livestock, and chickens. In terms of trade, Puerto Rico’s main partners are the United States, Ireland, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, Puerto Rico benefits from the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in which the United States partakes, but with severe restrictions as it relates to shipping and commerce in accordance with the Jones Act of 1920. These FTAs include the US-Colombia FTA, the US-Panama FTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the US-Peru FTA, and the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). A revision of the commercial restrictions and shipping limitations imposed by the Jones Act of 1920 in Puerto Rico would serve as a major boost for the island’s exports and economic development.
Simultaneously, land distribution in Puerto Rico has evolved throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, permanent pastures and meadows in the island covered 312.000 hectares, while arable land covered 224.000 hectares and permanent crops accounted for 80.000 hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows had decreased to less than 87.000 hectares, while arable land represented little over 60.000 hectares and permanent crops covered 50.000 hectares. Meanwhile, in 1961, the cereals market Puerto Rico utilized almost 16.000 hectares of land and yielded approximately 18.000 metric tons annually. Finally, in 2014, the island devoted 330 hectares of land to cereals production and yielded little under 630 metric tons.