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Agricultural Productivity and Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Yu, Bingxin
  • Nin Pratt, Alejandro

Abstract

We analyze the evolution of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) over the past 45 years, looking for evidence of recent changes in growth patterns using an improved nonparametric Malmquist index. Our TFP estimates show a remarkable recovery in the performance of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture between 1984 and 2006 after a long period of poor performance and decline. That recovery is the consequence of improved efficiency in production resulting from changes in the output structure and an adjustment in the use of inputs. Policy interventions, including fiscal, trade and sector specific policies, appear to have played an important role in improving agriculture’s performance. Despite the improved agricultural performance, SSA economies face serious challenges to sustain growth. Among these are the small contribution of technical change to TFP growth in the past, the large tax burden imposed by remaining distortions, and the challenge of population growth.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in its series 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with number 105400.

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Date of creation: 01 Jun 2011
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Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea11:105400

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Keywords: agriculture; efficiency; Malmquist index; total factor productivity; technical change; Sub-Saharan Africa; policy; Agricultural and Food Policy; International Development; Productivity Analysis;

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References

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  1. Nin Pratt, Alejandro & Yu, Bingxin, 2009. "An Updated Look at the Recovery of Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51731, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  2. Yu, Bingxin & Fulginiti, Lilyan E. & Perrin, Richard K., 2002. "Agriculture Productivity In Sub-Saharan Africa," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19816, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
  3. Steven Block, 2010. "The Decline and Rise of Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa Since 1961," NBER Working Papers 16481, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Anderson, Kym & Masters, William A., 2008. "Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Sub-Saharan and North Africa," Agricultural Distortions Working Paper 48572, World Bank.
  5. Timo Kuosmanen & Laurens Cherchye & Timo Sipiläinen, 2003. "The Law of One Price in Data Envelopment Analysis: Restricting Weight Flexibility Across Firms," Microeconomics 0312006, EconWPA, revised 18 Dec 2003.
  6. Douglas A. Irwin & Marko Tervio, 2000. "Does Trade Raise Income? Evidence from the Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 7745, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Channing Arndt & Henning Tarp Jensen & Finn Tarp, 2000. "Stabilization and structural adjustment in Mozambique: an appraisal," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(3), pages 299-323.
  8. Nin, Alejandro & Arndt, Channing & Preckel, Paul V., 2003. "Is agricultural productivity in developing countries really shrinking? New evidence using a modified nonparametric approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 395-415, August.
  9. Keith O. Fuglie, 2008. "Is a slowdown in agricultural productivity growth contributing to the rise in commodity prices?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 431-441, November.
  10. Ferrarini, Benno, 2010. "Trade and Income in Asia: Panel Data Evidence from Instrumental Variable Regression," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 234, Asian Development Bank.
  11. Kherallah, Mylène & Delgado, Christopher L. & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z. & Minot, Nicholas. & Johnson, Michael., 2000. "The road half traveled," Food policy reports 10, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Kherallah, Mylène & Delgado, Christopher L. & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z. & Minot, Nicholas & Johnson, Michael, 2000. "The road half traveled," Issue briefs 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
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Cited by:
  1. Wang, Sun Ling & McPhail, Lihong Lu, 2012. "Impacts of Energy Shocks on US Agricultural Productivity Growth and Food Prices —A Structural VAR Analysis," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124892, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
  2. Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Johnson, Michael E. & Yu, Bingxin, 2012. "Improved performance of agriculture in Africa South of the Sahara: Taking off or bouncing back?," IFPRI discussion papers 1224, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  3. Hazell, Peter B.R., 2012. "Elmhirst Lecture, 27th International Conference of Agricultural Economists, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil August 2012 : Options for African Agriculture in an Era of High Food and Energy Prices," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 127070, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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