 This resulted from input improvements (seeds, fertilizers, machinery), public policies that encouraged exports, reduced tax burden (such as the 1996 reduction of the circulation tax), more favorable real exchange rate, which had allowed price stability (in 1999), increased Asian demand, productivity growth and reduced trade barriers.Farming accounted for almost a third of GDP, once everything from agricultural inputs to food processing and distribution are included.From 1990 to 2001, farming employment fell, although overall agribusiness employment jumped from 372 thousand to 1.82 million.