ISLAMABAD: Agriculture sector of the country is estimated to grow by 3.81 percent during the fiscal year 2017-18 against the growth of 2.07 in 2016-17 and 0.15 in 2015-16, showing considerable improvements as compared to last couple of years.

Among the agriculture sector, the crops sector witnessed 3.83 percent growth, with important crops growing by 3.57 percent and others crops by 3.33 percent, according to latest data available for six to eight months and projected for the whole year. During the year 2016-17, the growth of crops was recorded at 0.91 percent while there was negative growth of 5.27 percent in 2015-16, the provisional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates revealed.

The Cotton Ginning sector was the top contributor in terms of percentage to help agriculture sector achieve this growth rate as this sector grew by 8.27 percent during the period under review. The cotton ginning had witnessed 5.58 percent growth in 2016-17 and negative growth of 22.12 in financial year 2015-16.Similarly, the livestock sector grew by 3.76 percent in 2017-18 against the growth of 2.99 percent in 2016-17 and 3.36 percent in 2015-16.

The forestry sector also grew by 7.17 percent in 2017-18, which had witnessed negative growth of 2.37 percent in 2016-17 and positive growth of 14.31 percent in 2015-16. The fishing sector also witnessed positive growth of 1.63 percent in 2017-18 against the growth of 1.23 percent in 2016-17 and 3.25 percent in 2015-16, the data revealed.