Provincial Total Factor Productivity in Vietnamese Agriculture and Its Determinants

Abstract

This paper was designed to capture the determinants of the agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) level across 60 provinces in Vietnam during the period 1990-2006. The TFP level in Tornqvist form was used to regress on 4 groups of determinants: omitted inputs of agricultural production process; quality of inputs used in agricultural production; technology factors; and output structure. The estimated results showed that: (i) Vietnam’s agricultural sector became relatively more capital intensive; (ii) South provinces were more productive, while North Midlands and Central Coast tended to lag further behind; (iii) labour mobility played a very important role in resources accumulation in agriculture in Vietnam, and so in improving TFP; and (iv) agricultural TFP was significantly influenced by land quality, farm size and land fragmentation.