Labour productivity: The forgotten yield gap

James Cock, Steven Prager, Holger Meinke and Ruben Echeverria

Agricultural Systems, 2022, vol. 201, issue C

Abstract: Crop yields and labour productivity have increased markedly over the past 70 years. In agriculturally advanced countries, increases in labour productivity – that is, increases in the economic output per unit of labour input – have been several-fold greater than corresponding increases in yield. The gap in labour productivity between the Global North and the Global South is now much greater than the yield gap. This large labour productivity gap, unless remedied, will: (i) condemn many farmers in the Global South to live in poverty; and (ii) make them less competitive and force them to follow the well-established trend of exiting farming altogether, which (iii) will contribute to greater dependence on imported food in many countries.

Keywords: Labour productivity; Research and development policies; High value crops; Rural poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:201:y:2022:i:c:s0308521x22000889

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103452

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