Sources of Agricultural Productivity in Low and Lower Middle Income Countries

Abstract

Assessing and quantifying the sources of agricultural productivity across developing countries is the prime objective of this paper. Thirty-one low and lower middle income countries from the Asian and African continents were selected for the study. The results show that variations in land productivity are well explained by variations in labor and fertilizer resources. However, variations in tractor and livestock inputs have low impacts on the performance of land productivity. The average annual malmquist factor productivity index is positive. Factor productivity was further divided into two components; technical change and efficiency change indices. The results show the technical change index is higher than the technical efficiency change index. The trends in productivity factors indicate convergence across developing countries after 1990.JEL Classification: Q16, Q18