Productivity growth and the role of mechanisation in African agriculture

Oliver Kirui, Lukas Kornher and Maksud Bekchanov

Agrekon, 2023, vol. 62, issue 1, 80-97

Abstract: This paper compares agricultural productivity growth, specifically, the impact of agricultural mechanisation on total factor productivity and cereal yields, across African countries using contemporaneous and sequential Malmquist index approaches. Contemporaneous approach findings indicate that agricultural productivity grew by 1% annually over 1961–2014, while sequential technology measures show much higher growth of 1.7%. The highest growth rates were experienced since the 2000s due to technical progress. Regression analysis indicates that mechanisation, research and development, weather conditions, and population pressure influence African agricultural productivity. Climate-smart options to sustain crop yields in countries relying heavily on rain-fed agriculture are critical. The transfer of knowledge from countries with high-level productivity might enhance productivity in “laggard” countries.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03031853.2023.2176894 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Journal Article: Productivity growth and the role of mechanisation in African agriculture (2023)
Working Paper: Productivity Growth and the Role of Mechanization in African Agriculture (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ragrxx:v:62:y:2023:i:1:p:80-97

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ragr20

DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2023.2176894

Access Statistics for this article

Agrekon is currently edited by A. Jooste, National Agricultural Marketing Council

More articles in Agrekon from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().