Although its contribution to GDP is very small, agriculture still
employs a considerable number of Portuguese. Chief crops and production
figures for 1998 include vegetables (including tomatoes, 2.2 million
metric tons), fruit (including grapes and olives, 1.7 million tons),
root crops (including potatoes, 1.1 million tons), and cereal grains
(including corn and wheat, 1.3 million tons). Portugal is traditionally
one of the world's leading producers of wine (including the
world-renowned Porto and Madeira wines) and olive oil. Livestock in 1998
numbered 1.3 million cattle, 6.3 million sheep, 2.2 million pigs, and 33
million poultry. Fishing is also a major industry. Portuguese farmers
and fishers—like their colleagues elsewhere in Europe—rely
heavily on EU
subsidies
, but their slowness to adopt more productive technology has resulted in
a loss of EU market share to competitors from Spain, France, and Italy.
Thank you kindly,
S.F.