Assessing Africa’s Agricultural TFP for Food Security and Effects on Human Development: Evidence from 35 Countries

Boima M. Bernard, Yanping Song, Sehresh Hena, Fayyaz Ahmad and Xin Wang
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Boima M. Bernard: College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Yanping Song: College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Sehresh Hena: Research Center of Agricultural-Rural-Peasants, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China
Fayyaz Ahmad: School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xin Wang: College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Population growth, food shortages, and low levels of human development have been longstanding issues confronting many African countries. Agricultural productivity remains a critical goal for mitigating these challenges and ensuring overall economic development. Total factor productivity (TFP) is a crucial metric for determining a sector’s overall growth. However, due to a lack of comprehensive assessments of the trends and determinants of TFP growth in African agriculture, there are disagreements. Within the context of inclusive human development, the impact of agricultural productivity is frequently misrepresented in the current literature. This paper estimated TFP growth and assessed its impact on human development in Africa. Due to technological improvement, TFP increased moderately at a 5.4% growth rate across African countries over the period (2001–2019). Empirical evidence indicates that TFP growth enhances human development in the long run, but the effect varies according to levels of human development (HDI) and the nature of growth over time. For instance, higher levels of human development tend to mitigate the impact of TFP. Further analysis revealed that technical efficiency improvement is critical for enhancing food safety and human development. Policy recommendations for improving TFP for food security and human development in Africa are provided. Further investigation into agricultural TFP’s impact beyond the poverty measure in Africa is encouraged.

Keywords: agricultural TFP growth; human development; food security; DEA-Malmquist index; dynamic panel IV model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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