Abstract
Improving agricultural productivity is a priority concern in promoting the sustainable development of agriculture in developing countries. In this study, we first apply stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to analyze the growth of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) and its three components (technical change—TC, technical efficiency change—TEC and scale change—SC) in 15 south and southeast Asian countries covering the period 2002 to 2016. Then, the determinants of agricultural TFP growth are identified using dynamic panel data models. The results reveal that the south and southeast Asian countries witnessed an overall decline in agricultural productivity during the sample period, thereby creating concerns over sustaining future agricultural growth. Technical progress was the major source of TFP growth, but its contribution has slowed in recent years. On the other hand, declining scale change and technical efficiency change resulted in the deterioration of productivity over time. Variable levels of productivity performances were observed for individual countries, mainly driven by technological progress. Overall, southeast Asia achieved a more stable and sustained agricultural growth as compared to south Asia. Among the determinants, human capital, level of urbanization, and development flow to agriculture positively influenced agricultural TFP growth, while the level of economic development and agricultural import were negatively associated with TFP growth. Policy recommendations include the suggestions that south and southeast Asian countries should increase investment in human capital, focus on technological innovation and make use of financial assistance and development flow to agriculture to increase and sustain agricultural productivity. In addition, frontier countries of the two regions (e.g., India and Indonesia) should take the lead on regional agricultural development ventures by enhancing cooperation with neighboring countries on technological innovations, and countries facing diseconomies of scale (i.e., Afghanistan and Iran) should consider the rational reallocation of agricultural inputs.
Highlights
The growth of global population and rising income are driving up global food demand
It can be concluded that the agricultural outputs of south and southeast Asian countries in our sample were most sensitive to changes in agricultural land, followed by changes in agricultural labor and fertilizer
This study examined the agricultural productivity growth of 15 south and southeast Asian countries from 2002 to 2016 using a stochastic frontier model in order to assess the sustainability of their agricultural sectors
Summary
The growth of global population and rising income are driving up global food demand. How to accelerate agricultural productivity on a sustainable basis to meet the increasing demand for food despite land degradation is a major task for the global agricultural sector [1]. In the area of agriculture, the goals of sustainable development are to improve agricultural productivity, ensure food security, reduce poverty and malnutrition, and conserve natural resources, thereby simultaneously taking account of economic efficiency, social benefits and environmental sustainability [3,4]. Agriculture has long occupied a important position in the economic and social development of south and southeast Asian countries, which has exclusively contributed to providing employment, improving food security, and reducing poverty in these two regions [6,7,8]. Despite the decline of agriculture’s share in the economy, agricultural employment still accounted for around 47.4% and 38.9% of total employment in major south Asian and southeast Asian countries, respectively, during the period 2003–2016. The share of agricultural employment in south Asia is higher than in southeast Asia
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