COMCEC Agriculture Outlook 2017
22
Figure 17 reveals that Arab Group has the highest labor productivity among the three regions.
As of 2014, average agricultural labor productivity of Arab Group increased to 3,866 US
dollars/person, from less than 2,000 US dollars/person at the beginning of 1990s. Looking at
the individual countries in the Arab Group, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and
United Arab Emirates, registered the high level labor productivity. Although the levels of labor
productivity are high in the OIC, it must be recognized that many countries in the region have a
serious obstacle for agricultural development due to limited water resources and unfavorable
climatic conditions. The higher levels of labor productivity are probably due to a host of factors
including high levels of mechanization and use of fertilizer and pesticides. It may be noted that
the levels of labor productivity in the Lebanon, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are comparable to
those in high income countries.6
The level of labor productivity in the African Group was the lowest in the OIC with 1,556 US
dollars/person in 2014. Some African Group member countries such as Djibouti, Guinea,
Gambia, Uganda and Mozambique had the lowest levels of labor productivity among the OIC
member countries in this year.
2.3.3. Crop Yields
Another common indicator for analyzing agricultural productivity is crop yields. Even crop
yields can be calculated for each agricultural product, it should suffice to present
improvements in the most common, important and strategic crops. Therefore, wheat, maize
and cotton seed which play crucial roles in the OIC production, consumption and trade are
selected in order to analyze the crop yields in this study.
Figure 18. Wheat Yields in the OIC and the World
Source: FAOSTAT
6 IDB, 2009
1,6
1,8 2,0 2,0
2,1
2,5
2,7
2,9
3,0
3,3
0,00
0,50
1,00
1,50
2,00
2,50
3,00
3,50
1995 2000 2005 2010 2014
Yield (tonnes/ha)
OIC World