Agriculture growth and development has been modest and, relative to other sectors has declined significantly in recent years. While the potential for agriculture to supply a growing tourist sector exists, substantial agricultural surpluses must be generated for this arrangement to be viable. Currently only a small commercial sub-sector is producing vegetable crops for the local market. Commercial farms mostly specialize in high value crops such as cucumber,
green onion, Chinese cabbage, green peppers, beans, kankum and egg plant. The commercial sub-sector is largely driven by foreigners, either as laborers from the Philippines, or entrepreneurs from China. Traditional farming systems are semi-subsistence systems producing root crops, cassava, betel nut and pepper leaf, or more conventional systems that rotate vegetable crops on annual basis, using a mix of organic and inorganic inputs to ameliorate the relatively infertile acid soils. Traditional subsistence systems predominantly involve production by women.

View NMTPF Palau Report

National Mid Term Priority Framework full report