This, however, is easily explained and is evident also in other West Indian countries.
The most important industries in the manufacturing sectors are still the older industries
such as the manufacture of sugar, rum and molasses, and soap, oils and other products
from coconuts. These industries have not increased at the same rate as have mining,
distribution and services so that the increases in manufacturing of the non-staple proces-
sing industries only are rather greater than the figures indicate. There is also the fact
to be taken into account that many of the new manufacturers are small industries that do
not employ a large number of people in comparison with agricultural industries. Their
value lies as much in their contribution to employment at the construction stage and in
their contribution to self-sufficiency and diversification as in their actual contribution to
the gross domestic product.

 The manufacturing industries which are of most interest in the agricultural context are
those which are concerned with the production of food, drink and tobacco. These indus-
tries are mainly older industries in Jamaica; the most important are sugar and rum-
making, the processing of citrus and the processing of coconut products. In our input-
output matrix for Jamaica, sugar is shown as one sector so that the transactions between
farmers and processors are not indicated. Similarly, citrus growing and processing are
part of the main export sector. In Table 3b, however, which shows the gross domestic
product of Jamaica at factor cost, by industrial origin and at constant prices, we can see
the relative growth rates of agriculture and food, drink and tobacco manufacturing as
compared with other sectors of the economy during the period 1953-59. As will be seen
from the series (Table 3b) all the agricultural sectors increased at a rather slower rate
of growth than did non-agricultural sectors; and, as we would expect from this, the sec-
tor "manufacturing, food, drink and tobacco" increased relatively slowly too. This follows
from the importance of sugar milling and other basic processing industries in this sector.

 Export agriculture, for which the figures are fairly reliable, and which in this case
includes the banana, citrus, cocoa and coffee industries and a number of minor industries,
show quite severe fluctuations over the period under review. These fluctuations are also
discernible in the cane series.

 The figures for domestic agriculture, and livestock and fishing are less reliable. It
appears that these sectors grew slightly faster than population over this period. It is
possible, however, that most of this growth is attributable to the livestock industry.
Given the unreliable nature of the figures, it would be rash for us to claim that there had
been any marked change either way in the production of roots and vegetables on the whole,
although material collated for our supply projections indicates some increase in vegetable
production accompanied by a small decline in root production.

 Although the government sector grew in the period 1953-59, its average annual growth
 rate was 6.8% as compared with the 8.8% for the economy as a whole (Table 3b) at con-
 stant prices. Salary increases brought the government sector's share of the gross domes-
 tic product in current prices from 6.3 % in 1952 to 7.0% in 1959.

 Projections for the Jamaica economy 1965, 1970 and 1975

 Method. From what has been concluded regarding past growth rates it is evident that
 we could not consider a simple projection of these into the future. The period 1958-62
 already gives some indication of a slowing down of the growth rate. We do not predict a