Productivity growth and technology capital in the global agricultural economy.

Abstract

This chapter makes an effort to derive estimates of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth by country, region and for the world as a whole for the period 1961-2009. To estimate TFP, a consistent growth accounting framework based primarily on FAO input and output data is used, drawing upon country-level case studies for estimates of input cost shares needed for aggregating inputs into a total. The results show accelerating productivity for the world as a whole over time, mostly resulting from improved productivity performance in developing countries. There is wide variation among countries, however. To help explain these differences, the correlation between country-level indexes of 'technology capital' and their long-run agricultural TFP growth rates are examined. Evidence is found that national capacities in agricultural and industrial research are significantly correlated with agricultural TFP growth. National capacities in agricultural extension and farmer schooling are also important, but, at the margin, seem to be less essential than research capacity in releasing constraints to productivity.

Agropecuária brasileira: desempenho regional e determinantes de produtividade

“…Esse crescimento acelerado se consolidou em regiões de grande representatividade na produção de alimentos, como é o caso do Brasil e da China e em outras regiões de menor expressividade, como o sudeste da Ásia, norte da África, América Central e da região Andina. Dentre as causas do rápido crescimento da produtividade destas regiões, destacam-se as reformas tecnológicas de capital, pesquisas e extensão agrícola (FUGLIE, WANG e BALL, 2012).…”

Economic Growth, Convergence, and World Food Demand and Supply

“…Fuglie (2012) reports that agricultural production growth of 'developed' countries is primarily attributable to total factor productivity (TFP) growth while their agricultural input growth has been negative since the 1980s.…”

Agricultural reforms and bridging the gap for rural China

“…Note: TFP is calculated using FAO gross agricultural output smoothed with a Hodrick-Prescott filter. Input growth is the weightedaverage growth in quality-adjusted land, labour, machinery power, livestock capital, and synthetic three-component fertilisers, where weights are input cost shares (Fuglie, 2012). Measurement issues with this TFP measure have been identified (Alston and Pardey, 2014), suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions based on these data.…”