Latin America & Caribbean: agricultural orientation index 2001-2017

The Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI) in Latin America and the Caribbean has declined from 0.33 in 2015 to 0.26 in 2017, showing an increasingly higher public underinvestment in agriculture in the region. The Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI) measures how regions and countries contribute to the development of the agricultural sector, comparing the central government's contribution to agriculture with the own sector's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An AOI of less than one (1) indicates that the agricultural sector depends less on governmental spending than on its own contribution to the domestic economy, whereas a score of more than 1 shows a higher governmental involvement in agricultural development, compared to the sector's contribution to GDP. All throughout the period of consideration, the AOI showed scores well below one in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region whose economy has been traditionally dependent on agricultural revenues.