Like so many facets of life in so many places around the world, the agriculture and manufacturing sectors in Jamaica have the COVID-19 pandemic to thank for cutting short and, in fact, overturning the promising growth spurt with which they started 2020.The year began with both the farming and manufacturing sectors recording growth of 7.8 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively. Beginning in the first quarter of January and up to March, signs were beginning to appear that the country was on track for a better performance than two previous years. By the second quarter, however, farming was down 8.5 per cent and manufacturing saw a sizeable 8.7 per cent downturn.
