Ljubljana - Gross value added in agriculture in 2021 declined by 28% year-on-year to EUR 424 million, accounting for 0.8% of Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP), down 0.4 percentage points. Such a low share of agriculture in GDP has never before been recorded, the Statistics Office said on Friday.

The value of all income categories in agriculture was significantly lower. Factor income fell by 27% to EUR 425 million, and factor income per employee by 36% to EUR 5,777.

The latter's decline was mainly a result of a 13% decrease in harvest volume and a 15% increase in the costs of agricultural production.

Subsidies were higher by 7%, totalling EUR 291 million.

Total agricultural production was worth EUR 1.319 billion, or 4% down compared to the previous year. Prices went up by 11%, but the volume of production was smaller, particularly in crop production where it went down by a quarter.

Crop production was worth EUR 722 million, accounting for 55% of total production, down three points over 2020.

The value of livestock farming was EUR 564 million, making up for 43% of total production, three points up.

Last year, Slovenia saw the worst fruit harvest on record in terms of quantity, mainly due to a drop in production in extensive orchards. The value of production dropped by more than 40%.

Gross fixed capital formation grew by 34% to EUR 316 million.

Agricultural production in 2021 included 73,607 employees, down by some 1% on the year before.