Hawai'i avocado growers last year improved their yield per acre but farmed fewer acres to produce a smaller overall crop, according to a report by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The report estimated the state's avocado crop at 840,000 pounds last year, down 5 percent from 880,000 pounds a year earlier.

The price paid to farmers last year was 68 cents per pound, unchanged from 2006. Total crop value at the farm level was $571,000 last year, down from $598,000 a year earlier but still the second-highest value in the last decade.

The federal agency reported that farmers increased their average yield by 7 percent to 3,400 pounds of avocado per harvested acre. Total acreage planted in avocados was 340 last year, down from 380 a year earlier, while acreage bearing fruit was 250 compared with 280 in the same period.