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Photo: Konstantin Papushin · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

Food & Agriculture

153rd

of 175 countries placed

Placed from 4 of 4 key statistics

01The evidence

The 4 key statistics that decide it

Only these place Jamaica on food & agriculture — one vote each. Every value is the publisher’s own, read at the edition the Country Index 2026 used; the grey ticks are every other country it was compared with, lowest on the left.

Why these keys
  1. Key 1 of 4

    Cereal Yield

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: How much food a hectare of land produces: the clearest single measure of how productively a country farms.

    2023 edition · data for 2023 · CC BY 4.0

    1,140

    Cereal yield (kg per hectare)

    Higher is better

    Jamaica: 1,140. Across the 179 countries in this edition, values run from 23 (Cabo Verde) to 29,147 (Oman); the world median is 3,072.

    World median
    3,072
    Best in Caribbean
    14,067 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

    Each grey tick is one of 179 countries in the 2023 edition.

  2. Key 2 of 4

    Organic Agricultural Area

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: Farmland managed without synthetic fertiliser or pesticide — how a country farms, set beside how much it grows.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    0

    Organic share of agricultural land (%)

    Higher is better

    Jamaica: 0. Across the 156 countries in this edition, values run from 0 (Afghanistan) to 86.38 (Samoa); the world median is 0.725.

    World median
    0.725
    Best in Caribbean
    11.87 Dominica

    Each grey tick is one of 156 countries in the 2024 edition.

  3. Key 3 of 4

    Dietary Energy Supply

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: Whether the food a country produces and imports covers what its population needs to eat, measured before anyone has eaten it.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    2,919

    Dietary energy supply (kcal per person per day)

    Higher is better

    Jamaica: 2,919. Across the 155 countries in this edition, values run from 1,757 (Somalia) to 3,962 (United States); the world median is 2,982.

    World median
    2,982
    Best in Caribbean
    3,367 Dominican Republic

    Each grey tick is one of 155 countries in the 2024 edition.

  4. Key 4 of 4

    Agriculture Orientation Index

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: How much public spending agriculture attracts set against the share of the economy it produces — whether a state invests in its farms or lives off them.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    0.21

    Agriculture orientation index (1.0 = spending matches sector size)

    Higher is better

    Jamaica: 0.21. Across the 132 countries in this edition, values run from 0.03 (Ghana) to 5.38 (Singapore); the world median is 0.305.

    World median
    0.305
    Best in Caribbean
    2.16 Saint Kitts and Nevis

    Each grey tick is one of 132 countries in the 2024 edition.

03In context

Jamaica beside its neighbours

A position reads best beside the countries around it. Every position below is a place among all 175 countries on food & agriculture, never a place within the region.

Caribbean
1st175thNot placed · 49 countries with too few key statisticsNo data

The whole world on food & agriculture

Jamaica and Caribbean

Jamaica has no land border, so the table compares it with its sub-region. The standing is each country’s place among all 175 placed on the topic; the other columns are the publishers’ own values, read at the edition the standing used.

CountryStandingCereal YieldCereal yield (kg per hectare)Organic Agricultural AreaOrganic share of agricultural land (%)Dietary Energy SupplyDietary energy supply (kcal per person per day)Agriculture Orientation IndexAgriculture orientation index (1.0 = spending matches sector size)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines16th14,067—3,0690.8
Bahamas24th7,5980.37—1.99
Saint Lucia35th—0.57—1.88
Dominican Republic41st4,3767.53,3670.28
Barbados=45th2,797—3,1141.31
Dominica60th1,68211.873,149—
Antigua and Barbuda67th1,941——0.72
Trinidad and Tobago70th1,600—2,9991.28
Grenada113th998.82.17—0.28
Cuba141st2,0700.08——
Jamaica153rd1,14002,9190.21
Haiti163rd1,0630.231,998—
Anguillanot placed————
Arubanot placed————
British Virgin Islandsnot placed————
Cayman Islandsnot placed————
Curaçaonot placed————
Montserratnot placed————
Puerto Riconot placed3,612———
Saint Kitts and Nevisnot placed———2.16
Saint Martinnot placed————
Sint Maartennot placed————
Turks and Caicos Islandsnot placed————
United States Virgin Islandsnot placed————

“—” means the publisher gives no reading for that country in that edition. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed.

04Context, no vote

Where Jamaica is ahead of the world, and behind

17 more statistics filed under food & agriculture, published in full and deliberately given no vote in the standing. Select a row for the publisher, the rank and the links.

Every country

Ahead of the world median3

Statistics on which Jamaica does better than the middle country measured.

  • Food Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 106.08113.26▼ Worsened since 2012

    Jamaica: 113.26 · world median 106.08 · Food production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 71.08 to 177.49; higher is better.

    Position 68th of 195 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Livestock Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 107.06114.88▲ Improved since 2012

    Jamaica: 114.88 · world median 107.06 · Livestock production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 35.52 to 190.08; higher is better.

    Position 68th of 194 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Crop Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 106.23111.66▼ Worsened since 2012

    Jamaica: 111.66 · world median 106.23 · Crop production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 53.79 to 189.93; higher is better.

    Position 70th of 195 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

Behind the world median2

Statistics on which Jamaica does worse than the middle country measured.

  • Prevalence of UndernourishmentFAO · 2023 · world median 5.27.7▼ Worsened since 2013

    Jamaica: 7.7 · world median 5.2 · Population undernourished (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 2.5 to 54.2; lower is better.

    Position 63rd of 104 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Prevalence of Severe Food InsecurityFAO · 2023 · world median 4.727.8No real change since 2015

    Jamaica: 27.8 · world median 4.7 · Population in severe food insecurity (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 63.1; lower is better.

    Position 10th of 127 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

No better end12

These describe the shape of a country — more is not better or worse, only different — so they are never ahead or behind.

  • Cereal Import Dependency RatioFAO · 2022 · world median 42.899.3Moved since 2012

    Jamaica: 99.3 · world median 42.8 · Share of the cereal supply that is imported (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from -1,894 to 100.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Pesticide Use per HectareFAO · 2024 · world median 1.738.47Moved since 2014

    Jamaica: 8.47 · world median 1.73 · Pesticide use (kg per hectare of cropland). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 37.72.

    Position 34th of 178 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Livestock DensityFAO · 2023 · world median 0.5350.85No real change since 2013

    Jamaica: 0.85 · world median 0.535 · Livestock units per hectare of agricultural land. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.02 to 43.97.

    Position 58th of 188 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Agricultural Irrigated LandFAO · 2023 · world median 3.667.287No earlier reading

    Jamaica: 7.287 · world median 3.66 · Irrigated share of agricultural land (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.003 to 89.04.

    Position 40th of 121 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Value Added (% of GDP)World Bank Group · 2025 · world median 6.5728.743Moved since 2015

    Jamaica: 8.743 · world median 6.572 · Agriculture, forestry and fishing value added (% of GDP). World Bank Group, 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.025 to 47.59.

    Position 66th of 158 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Agricultural LandFAO · 2023 · world median 37.9638.5No real change since 2013

    Jamaica: 38.5 · world median 37.96 · Agricultural land (% of land area). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.445 to 86.48.

    Position 102nd of 209 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Employment in AgricultureILO · 2025 · world median 14.3813.94No real change since 2015

    Jamaica: 13.94 · world median 14.38 · Employment in agriculture (% of total employment). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.095 to 85.34.

    Position 94th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Fertilizer Consumption per HectareFAO · 2023 · world median 87.3659.19Moved since 2013

    Jamaica: 59.19 · world median 87.36 · Fertilizer consumption (kg per hectare of arable land). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 2,926.

    Position 112th of 188 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Arable Land per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 0.1090.042No real change since 2013

    Jamaica: 0.042 · world median 0.109 · Arable land (hectares per person). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 1.459.

    Position 155th of 206 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Agricultural EmissionsFAO · 2023 · world median 8,635840.84No real change since 2013

    Jamaica: 840.84 · world median 8,635 · Farm-gate emissions (kt CO₂eq). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 1,044,508.

    Position 150th of 193 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Water Withdrawal by SectorFAO · 2022 · world median 62.1417.06Moved since 2012

    Jamaica: 17.06 · world median 62.14 · Freshwater withdrawn for agriculture (% of total). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 99.48.

    Position 132nd of 171 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Land Under Cereal ProductionFAO · 2023 · world median 689,2782,009No real change since 2013

    Jamaica: 2,009 · world median 689,278 · Land under cereal production (hectares). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 103,715,108.

    Position 160th of 179 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

No current reading for Jamaica

Global Report on Food Crises. Listed rather than hidden, so the page can be checked against it.

06The top of the list

Who leads on food & agriculture

The three countries placed highest of 175, and the leaders Jamaica can most readily be measured against.

All 175 countries
  1. 1

    Austria

    Western Europe

    1st of 175 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0, greyscale

  2. 2

    Ireland

    Northern Europe

    2nd of 175 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale

  3. 3

    Czechia

    Eastern Europe

    3rd of 175 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: john mcsporran from Trossachs, Scotland · CC BY 2.0, greyscale

Placed highest nearby

  1. Highest in Americas

    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines16th3/4 keys
  2. This page

    Jamaica153rd4/4 keys

Positions out of 175 placed on the topic. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed, and the top of the list is often held on fewer of them.

07Questions

Jamaica on food & agriculture: questions answered

Every answer is built from the numbers on this page, so none can say something the page does not.

How does Jamaica rank on food & agriculture?

Jamaica is placed 153rd of 175 countries on Food & Agriculture in the Country Index 2026, from 4 of its 4 key statistics (Cereal Yield, Organic Agricultural Area, Dietary Energy Supply and Agriculture Orientation Index). The position is this site’s ordering of published statistics, not a rank any publisher printed.

What is the latest Cereal Yield figure for Jamaica?

1,140 in 2023 (cereal yield (kg per hectare)), according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The world median in the same edition was 3,072.

What is the latest Organic Agricultural Area figure for Jamaica?

0 in 2024 (organic share of agricultural land (%)), according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The world median in the same edition was 0.725.

How have Jamaica’s food & agriculture figures changed?

Cereal Yield fell from 1,147 in 2000 to 1,140 in 2023; Organic Agricultural Area fell from 0.08 in 2005 to 0 in 2024; Dietary Energy Supply rose from 2,701 in 2001 to 2,919 in 2024; Agriculture Orientation Index fell from 0.3 in 2001 to 0.21 in 2024.

Which food & agriculture statistics are missing for Jamaica?

No current reading is published for Jamaica on Global Report on Food Crises. They are listed rather than hidden, so the evidence on the page can be checked against it.

09Method

Method, sources and how to cite

What this topic does not measure

This subject is about production and land use, not about whether people are fed. Hunger, undernourishment and what a population actually eats are measured under Health & Wellbeing, and the two regularly disagree — a country can grow a great deal and still leave many people short, and one that grows little can be well fed by trade. The wider environmental cost of farming — emissions, water withdrawal, forest cover — is filed under Environment & Sustainability.

About food & agriculture, in full

How the Food & Agriculture standing is decided, step by step

A standing is a place in a list, not a mark out of anything. This one is part of the Country Index 2026, and it is worked out like this.

  1. A few key indicators decide it; the rest are context. 4 indicators on this topic are keys and 18 are charted alongside them without a vote. That split is the point: if every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what the topic is about.
  2. Each key is read at one edition. ⚠ The keys behind this standing do not all describe the same year — they run from 2023 to 2024, because publishers release on their own schedules. Read the standing as “how this country places now”, not as a snapshot of one year.
  3. Every country’s published value is turned into a place within that one key’s own field, and then expressed as a share of that field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (terrorism, hunger, disaster risk) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end.
  4. Dividing by the field first is the whole reason this works. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would reward a country for happening to be measured in small ones. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing.
  5. The shares are averaged, plainly. One key, one vote — no key is weighted above another, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion presented as a measurement. Countries are then put in order by that average, and the average itself is never published. It is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so printing it would invite it to be read as a measurement somebody made. The position it produces, the band, and the keys it was built from are all published instead — every one of them checkable against the tables on this page.
  6. A country needs 2 of this topic’s 4 keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading. 175 countries clear the bar here.
  7. A key has to earn its vote every edition. It must measure at least 120 countries (below that it starts measuring who was surveyed rather than the world), it must not have more than 10% of its field tied at either end, and it must not repeat another key in the same topic — Spearman correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating. A topic needs at least 2 surviving keys to place anyone at all; this one has 4.
  8. A standing is relative, and the grouping is ours. It says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move. The publishers listed on this page did not agree to be read together, and each measures its subject its own way: the underlying numbers are theirs, the ordering on top is this site’s — the same method as the rest of the Country Index, applied to one subject instead of all of them.

The key statistics and their licences

The other 17 statistics on this page come from 3 publishers, each named beside its numbers, with every edition and licence on the datasets pages.

The standing itself is part of the Country Index 2026, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photographs

Jamaica’s banner and the countries placed highest, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Jamaica: Food & Agriculture — standing and statistics, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/countries/jamaica/food

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