Agricultural production includes the value of all crop and livestock products originating within a country for the base period of 1994– 1996. The index value portrays the disposable output (after deductions for livestock feed and seed for planting) of a country’s agriculture in comparison with the base period 1989– 1991. Thus, the production values show not only the relative ability of countries to produce food but also show whether or not that ability has increased or decreased over an 8- year period.

In general, global food production has kept up with or very slightly exceeded population growth. However, there are significant regional variations in the trend of food production keeping up with or surpassing population growth. For example, agricultural production in Africa and in Middle America has fallen, while production in South America, Asia, and growing more rapidly than agricultural productivity. Where rapid increases in food pro- duction per capita exist (as in certain countries in South America, Asia, and Europe), most often the reason is the development of new agricultural technologies that have allowed food production to grow faster than population. In much of Asia, for example, the so- called Green Revolution of new, highly productive strains of wheat and rice made positive index values possible. Also in Asia, the cessation of major warfare allowed some countries (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) to show substantial increases over the 1982– 1984 index. In some cases, a drop in production per capita reflects government decisions to limit production in order to maintain higher prices for agricultural products. The United States and Japan fall into this category.