Green Agricultural Productivity Growth and Convergence in sub-Saharan Africa

This study analyzes the dynamics of green agricultural productivity growth through SSA countries. As subsidiary objectives: (i) to estimate efficiency levels of agricultural production system in SSA countries (ii) to estimate green agricultural productivity index through SSA countries (iii) and then to determine path nature of the green agricultural productivity index trough time and SSA countries. The methodology used to assess the degree of convergence in output per worker is based on the cointégration analysis, which recognizes that labour productivity is generally a non-stationary time series and convergence is a gradual process. First of all, we consider a decomposition of the growth in labour (green) productivity in terms of (1) efficiency change (2) technical change (3) (physical) capital accumulation and (4) growth in human capital. Then, a semi-parametric approach will be used to construct the best production practice frontier for a sample of SSA, and compute Malmquist productivity indexes and their decomposition into the underlying productivity components for each country. Finally, we will assess the individual contribution of the various components to the convergence in labour productivity.