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3. ROLE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE COMCEC ECONOMY
The 57 COMCEC Member Countries, as a group, account for more than one
fifth of the world total population while they represent one sixth of the world surface
area. The COMCEC Member Countries constitute a substantial part of the developing
countries. The gap between the rich and the poor COMCEC Member Countries is
substantial. In this context, 22 COMCEC Member Countries are currently classified by
the World Bank as Low-income countries and 28 are Middle-income countries (20 less
middle-income and 8 upper middle-income). In contrast, only 7 COMCEC Member
Countries are classified as high-income countries.
The significance of agriculture in national economies varies extensively. While
in many least developed countries, agriculture accounts for more than 50 % of GDP, in
high income economies such as the members of
(OECD), agriculture constitutes less than 1,5 % of overall
economic output. Thus, the role of agriculture in overall economic growth will vary
from country to country, and in general agriculture is more important in poorer
countries. In view of the fact that many COMCEC Member Countries are among the
poorest countries of the world, it is seen agriculture is the one of the most important
sector for the COMCEC as a group (COMCEC Coordination Office, 2013)
With 22.5% of the total world population, the COMCEC Member Countries
accounted for only 7.2% of the world total GDP in 2009. At the individual country level
in 2008, the agricultural sector dominates in only 7 Least-Developed countries, namely
Afghanistan, Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Togo.
On the other hand, COMCEC Member Countries represent 21.7 % of the world
agricultural GDP with almost 551.7 billion US Dollars agricultural value added in 2010.