Agricultural Productivity in China and India: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the trends and differences in agricultural productivity growth in China and India. It also looks at the relationship between land reform and productivity changes in the two nations. It compares the rate of change in productivities and ascertains the contributions of land, labor, livestock, machinery, fertilizer, technology and productivity growth. The results indicate strong upward trends in labor productivity and land productivity during 1960-83 but a downward trend in total factor productivity in the 1960s and 1970s. Although the two countries achieved positive growth of total factor productivity in the late 1970s, the divergence between partial and total factor productivity continued. This study also indicates that technical change made little net contribution to agricultural productivity growth. It suggests that inefficiency and an unbalanced cost structure are embodied in both agricultural systems. It concludes that land reform per se should not be viewed as the panacea for agrarian problems.Dans la pksente Ctude, nous nous penchons sur les tendances et sur les diffkrences observCes dans la croissance de la productivite agricole en Chine et en Inde. Nous examinons Cgalement les rapports qui existent entre la kforme agraire et les changements dans la pro-ductivit6 de ces deux pays. Nous comparons les taux de changement de productivitC et nous dhterminons le r6le jouC par la terre, la main-d'oeuvre, le Mtail, la machinerie, les engrais et la technologie dans la croissance de la productivitk. Les ksultats laissent constater une forte tendance i la hausse de la productivitk de la main-d'oeuvre et de la productivitk des terres au cours de la $riode de 1960 B 1983, mais une tendance 3 la baisse de la productivitk globale des facteurs au cours des annCes 1960 et 1970. MCme si les deux pays ont connu une croissance positive de la productivite globale des facteurs B la fin des annCes 1970, 1'Ccart entre la productivitC partielle et la productivitC globale des facteurs s'est creuse. Notre etude laisse Cgalement conclure que les changements technologiques ont peu influC sur la croissance de la productivit6 agricole. Cette constatation donne B penser que l'inef-ficaciti5 et une structure de coclts dCsCquilibke sont des caractkristiques inhCrentes des sys-t2mes agricoles de ces deux pays. Nous concluons que la kforme agraire ne devrait pas Ctre considCrCe c o m e une panacCe contre les probkmes d'agriculture.

Comparisons of agricultural productivity growth in China and India

“…These programs put strong emphasis on training, extension services, and research to change the attitudes of rural people toward the use of new technology. The government also promoted development of cooperative credit; processing of agricultural products; marketing; smallscale industries; community projects; consolidation of fragmented farm land and the use of agricultural subsidies to facilitate the introduction of seed-water-fertilizer technology (Wong 1989). These programs resulted in a substantial Because of WTO commitments, abolition of quantitative restrictions on imports; reduction of the list of industries reserved solely for production by the public sector or by small scale producers.…”

“…Although several studies in the past have focused on the analysis of agricultural TFP in China and India (see footnote), 1 only two comparative studies (Wong 1989;NinPratt et al 2008) explicitly devoted to agricultural productivity seem to appear in the literature. The study by Wong covers the period 1964Wong covers the period -1983 and does not capture the last two decades of steady growth in China and the reform period in India.…”

Measurement of total factor productivity growth and biases in technological change in Western Australian agriculture

“…The Tornqvist index (Tornqvist, 1936) can be shown to be a derivative of the homogeneous translog production function, which provides a second-order approximation to an arbitrary production function at any given point . This index has been used widely in studies of agricultural productivity in the past decade (Lawrence and McKay, 1980;Kingwell, 1982;Ball, 1985;Rayner et al, 1986;Rahuma and Veeman, 1988;Wong, 1989). A Tornqvist quantity index for the case of two quantities (X, and X,) has the following form:…”

Information and communication technology in smart agriculture: A scientometric review

“…These countries have diverse interests in agricultural practices and production environments. 64 Results are quite different when considering the citations per document. Citations per document are calculated by dividing the total number of citations by total number of documents for a country.…”