The increase was due to growth in the livestock subsector (4.6 per cent) and recovery from the decline recorded until April 2012 the agricultural sub-sector (2.7 per cent).

There was also increased production of fresh milk and growth in the pig sector.

Meanwhile, production in the agricultural subsector increased by the increased production of paddy rice, olives, potatoes and hard yellow corn. Increased production of grapes, bananas, garlic, avocado, corn starch and palm oil, also contributed to the growth, but was offset by lower production of mango and coffee.

In the last ten years the average growth rate of agricultural production accumulated from January to May was four per cent, up 0.6 percentage points over the rate of growth of agricultural production in the same period this year (3.4 per cent).

Agricultural production in May saw an increase of 7.7 per cent compared with the same month last year.

The agricultural sub-sector increased by 9.7 per cent through higher production of paddy, potato, yellow corn and grapes. Also contributing to the growth was the production of corn starch, avocado, cassava, beans dry beans, garlic and asparagus. However, crops such as cotton and olive, decreased production.

The livestock sub-sector increased 3.5 per cent due to increased production of cattle, pigs and fresh milk. However, the decrease in egg production by 3.6 per cent (955 t less) prevented further growth in this subsector.