Total factor productivity growth in agriculture: Malmquist index analysis of 14 countries, 1979-2008

The research was focused on studying the behavior of productivity in agricultural production in 14 developing countries of the Central American and Caribbean region. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations data in the period 1979-2008 was used. The study used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to derive Malmquist productivity indexes. Trends in agricultural productivity over the period was examined. Issues of catch-up and convergence, or in some cases possible divergence, in productivity in agriculture are examined within a global framework. 1.5 % of TFP, with efficiency change (or catch-up) contributing 0.1 % per year and technical change (or frontier shift) providing the other 1.4 % was found as result. The most spectacular performance is posted by Dominican Republic, so it represented 3.9 % in TFP over the study period an average annual growth. Cuba, Barbados, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala have posted a TFP growth rate of only 2.9 every one.