Platform will measure Puerto Rico's agricultural production index

Thousands of farmers and citizens are expected to benefit from this tool.

April 19, 2023. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute presented a new tool that will facilitate access to agricultural statistics and will allow us to know which products within local agriculture are in greater or lower demand in Puerto Rico. The platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico, whose primary source of data was provided by the Department of Agriculture, and which will benefit thousands of farmers and citizens, includes: Production and Demand indices for tubers, meat, farinaceae, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, milk and dairy products. As for production rates, the platform allows us to know aspects such as export vs. import. The demand indices, on the other hand, include data on per capita consumption vs. per capita production. The tool also includes agricultural statistics such as agricultural activities, losses and producers of small ruminants, as well as a metadata area for the definition of concepts. This platform, as reported, collects data from 1990 to 2021 and its constant updating will allow us to compare how the production of products such as Chinese, bananas, coffee, among others, behaves.

One of the aspects highlighted by the platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico is the decline in local coffee production. According to data obtained by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture, in 1990 local coffee production was 280,000 quintals, while in 2020 production decreased to 28,943 quintals. According to Manuel Mangual Martínez, Data and Statistics Specialist and Project Supervisor at the Institute, this decrease in production could, among other things, be the result of situations such as the passage of Hurricane Maria, which caused significant coffee losses since 2017, reaching its lowest point in 2019 with a production of 12,127 quintals.

“For several reasons, access to agricultural statistical information in Puerto Rico has been an enormous challenge for farmers, researchers and the general public. With this platform, the Institute provides all citizens, and especially farmers, with fast and universal access to data and statistics on food production and demand in Puerto Rico, in one place, accessible 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Access to these statistics will make it easier to make decisions based on empirical evidence, that promote food security in Puerto Rico,” said the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Orville M. Disdier Flores. Dr. Disdier also reported that the platform will continue to evolve and will have more information in the future.

The platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico is available through the following link: Puerto Rico Agricultural Production Statistics and Index.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is a governmental entity in the executive branch, with fiscal and administrative autonomy, whose main purpose is to ensure that Puerto Rico has complete, reliable statistics that are quickly and universally accessible. To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics).

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Portal of the Institute of Statistics has a new home: www.estadisticas.pr

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PRESS RELEASE

Data presented from the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico

729 homicides and 276 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2017

The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS) established at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, presented data from the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Report for 2017. The report reports that, in 925 documented incidents of violent deaths, there were 1,025 victims. According to the PRVDRS, violent deaths are those that occur primarily by suicide or homicide.

The data indicate that 70.3% of the incidents were classified as single or multiple homicides, 26.3% were single incidents of suicide and 1.4% of the incidents were homicide-suicides. In 2017, six homicide-suicide incidents were reported, resulting in 14 fatalities, of which eight were classified as homicides and six as suicides. In addition, during this period, three violent deaths attributed to legal intervention (0.3%) and 17 violent deaths with undetermined intent (1.7%) were documented. The report concludes that in 2017 there were a total of 729 homicides and 276 suicides in Puerto Rico.

In 2017, the crude homicide rate was 21.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, 43.8 in men (1 in 31 men) and 2.1 in women (1 in 650 women). The primary mechanism of the homicides was firearms. 45.5% of the 729 homicides are documented as related to drug trafficking and organized crime. The report also indicates that firearms were used in practically all homicides related to organized crime (97.9%). In Puerto Rico, according to the report, 90% of homicides are committed with firearms, more than double the global average of 41.2%. 82.1% of these weapons are pistols or revolvers. The report of Small Arms Survey In 2017, it estimated that 422,000 firearms were in legal (registered by the police) and illegal possession in Puerto Rico; that is, approximately 12 out of every 100 people owned a firearm. PRVDRS data for 2017 show that firearms continue to be the primary mechanism for homicides in both men (91.3%) and women (64.9%).

Of the 21 homicides with evidence of family violence, 18 are the result of conflicts in partner or ex-partner relationships. The majority of these victims are women (72.2%) and 17 of the 18 suspects are men (94.4%). The circumstances in these homicides relate to immediate or ongoing conflict, or to violence between partners or ex-partners (72.2%), a crisis between intimate partners (33.3%) or jealousy over a current or previous intimate partner relationship (16.7%). In 53.8% of male-female relationships, femicide occurred using a firearm and in 38.5% a sharp instrument.

As for suicides in Puerto Rico, the report highlights that the frequency is lower than that of homicides. However, as in homicides, suicides are more frequent in men (84.4%). In 2017, the crude suicide rate was 8.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, 14.7 in men (1 of 97 men) and 2.5 in women (1 of 536 women). The main mechanism was asphyxiation.

Myribel Santiago, manager of statistical projects at the Institute of Statistics and co-principal investigator of the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico, explained that the collection of this type of data involves fieldwork that takes more than 16 months from the moment the incident occurs, the data is recorded and collected, among the collaborating agencies, until the closure and disclosure of the data. “We are pleased to have completed the first annual report of violent deaths in Puerto Rico,” said Santiago, who highlighted that the PRVDRS ranked number one in excellence in the timeliness and completeness of the 2017 data, among the 42 jurisdictions participating in the NVDRS in the United States.

“This system is a reliable, complete and unique reference source that helps describe the context of violent deaths in the victim-aggressor relationship and the magnitude, trend and characteristics of violent deaths in Puerto Rico,” said Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS.

For the executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, these statistics are one of the main tools to combat the phenomenon of violence in Puerto Rico. “These data, among others, serve as a basis for establishing effective measures for the prevention of violence in Puerto Rico, from multiple social, demographic and economic approaches. Our commitment at the Institute of Statistics is to continue strengthening this statistical and epidemiological system to continue improving the quality of this type of data,” argued Dr. Disdier.

The PRVDRS is an epidemiological surveillance system affiliated with the Institute of Statistics and designed to obtain a complete and standardized census of violent deaths in Puerto Rico. The PRVDRS began its participation in the National Violent Death Notification System (National Violent Death Reporting System, NVDRS) in September 2016 through a collaborative agreement granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity tasked with coordinating the government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and accessible quickly and universally.

The 2017 Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico is available at: Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System. To learn about the Institute of Statistics, you can access it on social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contact:

Dr. Orville M. Disdier

787-586-4414

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