Decomposition of agricultural productivity growth in Africa Available to Purchase

The purpose of this paper is to decompose total factor productivity (TFP) changes of the agriculture sector in ten African countries.

A fixed-effects estimation is applied to estimate the translog production function.

The study results are consistent with previous studies, indicating low TFP. Furthermore, of the TFP components, only technical change (TC) is positive. This study proposes that credit be made available to farmers in Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Furthermore, agricultural development programs should be implemented in South Africa and Senegal to improve TFP in these countries.

This study measures the following TFP components for the African agriculture sector: TC, technical efficiency, and scale effects.