IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i11p6411-d822783.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Africa’s Agricultural TFP for Food Security and Effects on Human Development: Evidence from 35 Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Boima M. Bernard

    (College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China)

  • Yanping Song

    (College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China)

  • Sehresh Hena

    (Research Center of Agricultural-Rural-Peasants, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China)

  • Fayyaz Ahmad

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Xin Wang

    (College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China)

Abstract

Population growth, food shortages, and low levels of human development have been longstanding issues confronting many African countries. Agricultural productivity remains a critical goal for mitigating these challenges and ensuring overall economic development. Total factor productivity (TFP) is a crucial metric for determining a sector’s overall growth. However, due to a lack of comprehensive assessments of the trends and determinants of TFP growth in African agriculture, there are disagreements. Within the context of inclusive human development, the impact of agricultural productivity is frequently misrepresented in the current literature. This paper estimated TFP growth and assessed its impact on human development in Africa. Due to technological improvement, TFP increased moderately at a 5.4% growth rate across African countries over the period (2001–2019). Empirical evidence indicates that TFP growth enhances human development in the long run, but the effect varies according to levels of human development (HDI) and the nature of growth over time. For instance, higher levels of human development tend to mitigate the impact of TFP. Further analysis revealed that technical efficiency improvement is critical for enhancing food safety and human development. Policy recommendations for improving TFP for food security and human development in Africa are provided. Further investigation into agricultural TFP’s impact beyond the poverty measure in Africa is encouraged.

Suggested Citation

  • Boima M. Bernard & Yanping Song & Sehresh Hena & Fayyaz Ahmad & Xin Wang, 2022. "Assessing Africa’s Agricultural TFP for Food Security and Effects on Human Development: Evidence from 35 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:11:p:6411-:d:822783
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6411/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6411/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Warr & Waleerat Suphannachart, 2021. "Agricultural Productivity Growth and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Thailand," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 525-546, June.
    2. Douglas Gollin & David Lagakos & Michael E. Waugh, 2014. "Agricultural Productivity Differences across Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 165-170, May.
    3. Baráth, Lajos & Fertő, Imre, 2020. "Accounting for TFP Growth in Global Agriculture - a Common-Factor- Approach-Based TFP Estimation," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 12(4), December.
    4. Rada, Nicholas E. & Fuglie, Keith O., 2019. "New perspectives on farm size and productivity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 147-152.
    5. Akisik, Orhan & Gal, Graham & Mangaliso, Mzamo P., 2020. "IFRS, FDI, economic growth and human development: The experience of Anglophone and Francophone African countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    6. Meital Izraelov & Jacques Silber, 2019. "An assessment of the global food security index," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(5), pages 1135-1152, October.
    7. Semykina, Anastasia & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2010. "Estimating panel data models in the presence of endogeneity and selection," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(2), pages 375-380, August.
    8. Miles Cahill, 2005. "Is the Human Development Index Redundant?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-5, Winter.
    9. Paul Schreyer, 2001. "The OECD Productivity Manual: A Guide to the Measurement of Industry-Level and Aggregate Productivity," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 2, pages 37-51, Spring.
    10. Adom, Philip Kofi & Adams, Samuel, 2020. "Decomposition of technical efficiency in agricultural production in Africa into transient and persistent technical efficiency under heterogeneous technologies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Qiang Li & Xiaohang Wu & Yi Zhang & Yafei Wang, 2020. "The Effect of Agricultural Environmental Total Factor Productivity on Urban-Rural Income Gap: Integrated View from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2020. "Foreign direct investment, information technology and economic growth dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    13. Christopher B. Barrett & Luc Christiaensen & Megan Sheahan & Abebe Shimeles, 2017. "On the Structural Transformation of Rural Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 26(suppl_1), pages 11-35.
    14. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2013. "Human development in Africa: A long-run perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-204.
    15. Serafin Corral & Alayde Serruto Díaz & Maria Del Cristo Monagas & Eduardo Cuenca García, 2017. "Agricultural Policies and Their Impact on Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from Three Water Basins in Cape Verde," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Inoue, Takeshi, 2018. "Financial development, remittances, and poverty reduction: Empirical evidence from a macroeconomic viewpoint," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 59-68.
    17. Steve Wiggins, 2014. "African Agricultural Development: Lessons and Challenges," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 529-556, September.
    18. Ignacio Amate-Fortes & Almudena Guarnido-Rueda & Agustin Molina-Morales, 2017. "Economic and Social Determinants of Human Development: A New Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 561-577, September.
    19. Sebastian Kripfganz, 2019. "Generalized method of moments estimation of linear dynamic panel-data models," London Stata Conference 2019 17, Stata Users Group.
    20. Arega D. Alene, 2010. "Productivity growth and the effects of R&D in African agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 223-238, May.
    21. Markus Eberhardt & Francis Teal, 2011. "Econometrics For Grumblers: A New Look At The Literature On Cross‐Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 109-155, February.
    22. Christiaensen, Luc & Demery, Lionel & Kuhl, Jesper, 2011. "The (evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reduction--An empirical perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 239-254, November.
    23. Amira Mohamed Emara, 2020. "The Impact of Corruption on Human Development in Egypt," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(5), pages 574-589.
    24. Sanzidur Rahman & Ruhul Salim, 2013. "Six Decades of Total Factor Productivity Change and Sources of Growth in Bangladesh Agriculture (1948–2008)," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 275-294, June.
    25. Damiaan Persyn & Joakim Westerlund, 2008. "Error-correction–based cointegration tests for panel data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 232-241, June.
    26. Yu Sheng & Eldon Ball & Katerina Nossal, 2015. "Comparing Agricultural Total Factor Productivity between Australia, Canada, and the United States, 1961-2006," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 29, pages 38-59, Fall.
    27. Megan Sheahan & Christopher B. Barrett & Casey Goldvale, 2017. "Human health and pesticide use in Sub-Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(S1), pages 27-41, November.
    28. Darwati Susilastuti, 2018. "Agricultural Production and its Implications on Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 309-320.
    29. Luh, Yir-Hueih, 2017. "The Impact Of Education On Agricultural Productivity: Evidence From East Asian Economies," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 5(4), October.
    30. Dhahri, Sabrine & Omri, Anis, 2020. "Foreign capital towards SDGs 1 & 2—Ending Poverty and hunger: The role of agricultural production," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 208-221.
    31. Kondwani Msowoya & Kaveh Madani & Rahman Davtalab & Ali Mirchi & Jay R. Lund, 2016. "Climate Change Impacts on Maize Production in the Warm Heart of Africa," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(14), pages 5299-5312, November.
    32. Christiaensen, Luc & Demery, Lionel & Kuhl, Jesper, 2006. "The role of agriculture in poverty reduction an empirical perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4013, The World Bank.
    33. Olivia Bertelli, 2020. "Food Security Measures in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Validation of the LSMS-ISA Scale†," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 29(1), pages 90-120.
    34. Yannick Fosso Djoumessi & Cyrille Bergaly Kamdem & Luc Ndeffo Nembot, 2020. "Moving off Agrarian Societies: Agricultural Productivity to Facilitate Economic Transformations and Non‐agricultural Employment Growth in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 324-341, April.
    35. Chaoxun Ding & Ruidan Zhang, 2021. "The Measurement and Influencing Factors of Total Factor Productivity in the Chinese Rural Distribution Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    36. Zhang, Yumei & Diao, Xinshen, 2020. "The changing role of agriculture with economic structural change – The case of China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    37. Amira Mohamed Emara, 2020. "The Impact of Corruption on Human Development in Egypt," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(5), pages 574-589, May.
    38. Jianxu Liu & Mengjiao Wang & Li Yang & Sanzidur Rahman & Songsak Sriboonchitta, 2020. "Agricultural Productivity Growth and Its Determinants in South and Southeast Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-21, June.
    39. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Alberto Pardossi, 2020. "Improving Policy Evidence Base for Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security: A Content Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    40. Karagiannis, Roxani & Karagiannis, Giannis, 2020. "Constructing composite indicators with Shannon entropy: The case of Human Development Index," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yakun Wang & Jingli Jiang & Dongqing Wang & Xinshang You, 2022. "Can Mechanization Promote Green Agricultural Production? An Empirical Analysis of Maize Production in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, December.
    2. Leila Dal Moro & Laércio Stolfo Maculan & Dieisson Pivoto & Grace Tibério Cardoso & Diana Pinto & Bashir Adelodun & Brian William Bodah & M. Santosh & Marluse Guedes Bortoluzzi & Elisiane Branco & Alc, 2022. "Geospatial Analysis with Landsat Series and Sentinel-3B OLCI Satellites to Assess Changes in Land Use and Water Quality over Time in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Leonidas Sotirios Kyrgiakos & Georgios Kleftodimos & George Vlontzos & Panos M. Pardalos, 2023. "A systematic literature review of data envelopment analysis implementation in agriculture under the prism of sustainability," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-38, March.
    4. Gheorghe Hurduzeu & Radu Lucian Pânzaru & Dragoș Mihai Medelete & Andi Ciobanu & Constanța Enea, 2022. "The Development of Sustainable Agriculture in EU Countries and the Potential Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals Specific Targets (SDG 2)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jianxu Liu & Xiaoqing Li & Shutong Liu & Sanzidur Rahman & Songsak Sriboonchitta, 2022. "Addressing Rural–Urban Income Gap in China through Farmers’ Education and Agricultural Productivity Growth via Mediation and Interaction Effects," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Huynh, Cong Minh, 2022. "How does research and development affect the nexus of climate change and agricultural productivity in Asian and Pacific countries?," MPRA Paper 112628, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Deng, Haiyan & Jin, Yanhong & Pray, Carl & Hu, Ruifa & Xia, Enjun & Meng, Hong, 2021. "Impact of public research and development and extension on agricultural productivity in China from 1990 to 2013," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Neema Ciza Angélique & Vwima Stany & Philippe Lebailly & Hossein Azadi, 2022. "Agricultural Development in the Fight against Poverty: The Case of South Kivu, DR Congo," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Nikos Benos & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Stefania Zotou, 2017. "Estimating production functions for the US states: the role of public and human capital," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 691-721, March.
    6. Nick Vink, 2022. "African agricultural development: How are we contributing?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(4), pages 540-562, July.
    7. Jian Xue & Zeeshan Rasool & Raima Nazar & Ahmad Imran Khan & Shaukat Hussain Bhatti & Sajid Ali, 2021. "Revisiting Natural Resources—Globalization-Environmental Quality Nexus: Fresh Insights from South Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Katsushi S. Imai, 2017. "Roles of Agricultural Transformation in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals on Poverty, Hunger, Productivity, and Inequality," Discussion Paper Series DP2017-26, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    9. Surya Bhushan, 2021. "Labour Productivity Dynamics in Indian Agriculture: 2000–2016," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(2), pages 371-388, June.
    10. Vandercasteelen, Joachim & Beyene, Seneshaw Tamru & Minten, Bart & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Cities and agricultural transformation in Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 383-399.
    11. Salah Eddine SARI HASSOUN & Abdelkader SAHED & Khayereddine Salim ADDA & Asma Hadjira SEBBANE, 2020. "Not a long ago, the agriculture sector was the main pillar of any economy in the world. It not only provides food production, but it participates to the expansion of the economic growth as well. In th," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(2(623), S), pages 301-324, Summer.
    12. Dorinet, Elizavetta & Jouvet, Pierre-André & Wolfersberger, Julien, 2021. "Is the agricultural sector cursed too? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    13. Grzegorz Oleniacz, 2021. "Czekanowski’s Diagram and Spatial Data Cluster Analysis for Planning Sustainable Development of Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-13, October.
    14. Silvia Fedeli & Francesco Forte & Ottavio Ricchi, 2015. "The Long Term Negative Relationship Between Public Deficit and Structural Unemployment: An Empirical Study of OECD Countries (1980–2009)," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(1), pages 39-54, March.
    15. Vadim Kufenko & Klaus Prettner, 2021. "Do you know your biases? A Monte Carlo analysis of dynamic panel data estimators," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp316, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    16. McCullough, Ellen B., 2017. "Labor productivity and employment gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 133-152.
    17. Bannor, Frank & Dikgang, Johane & Kutela Gelo, Dambala, 2021. "Interdependence between research and development, climate variability and agricultural production: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 105697, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Jianxu Liu & Changrui Dong & Shutong Liu & Sanzidur Rahman & Songsak Sriboonchitta, 2020. "Sources of Total-Factor Productivity and Efficiency Changes in China’s Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Coulibaly, Aïssata & Yogo, Urbain Thierry, 2020. "The path to shared prosperity: Leveraging financial services outreach to create decent jobs in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 131-147.
    20. repec:oup:apecpp:v:40:y:2018:i:3:p:421-444. is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Lele, Uma, 2022. "Productivity by Farm Size and Food Security," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 323943, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:11:p:6411-:d:822783. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.