Decomposition of Green Agricultural Productivity Gain Under a Multiple-Frontier Framework

Abstract

This paper investigates structural variation of agricultural productivity growth in China using a multiple-frontier approach. Agricultural productivity gain in Sichuan province is decomposed into technological progress, technical, mix and scale efficiency changes in terms of economic and environmental performance. The results show that agricultural Luenberger productivity indicator in Sichuan presents a significant increase trend with annual growth rate of 2.5% over the period of 1997-2017. The agricultural green growth in Sichuan is most driven by technological progress. Of the decline in the OI changes, over 90% results from the decline of environmental inefficiency. The technological progress is the main driven force of the economic growth while the TEC (technical inefficiency) incumbers its growth. The structural effects (mix and scale components) incumber environmental growth. The results imply that policymakers should pay more attention to new agricultural technological development and resource misallocation to improve agricultural green growth in Sichuan.