TITLE:
Assessing Total Factor Productivity for Soybean Production in China Based on DEA-Malmquist Index: 2005-2017
AUTHORS:
Shuguo Yang, Jaime Malaga, Xiangyu Guo
KEYWORDS:
Total Factor Productivity (TFP), Soybean, DEA-Malmquist Index
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.11 No.1,
January
9,
2020
ABSTRACT: The low and slowly increasing soybean yield
restricts the development of soybean production. Accurate measures of total
factor productivity (TFP) for soybean production can be helpful in identifying
conditions, institutions or policies that promote soybean production development
in China. In this paper, TFP growth for soybean production was estimated for a
panel data of 10 major soybean producing provinces from 2005 to 2017. Results
reveal that TFP grew at an average rate of 1.3% over the whole period, with
technical progress contributing 2.3% and efficiency change providing the other
-1.0%. The change of TFP for soybean production over that time, whether
increase or decline, was mainly derived by technical change except in three
years (2005-2007). Positive TFP growth in the provinces of Liaoning and Inner
Mongolia, and negative TFP growth in Hebei and Anhui were mainly driven by
efficiency change, specifically scale efficiency change except pure technical
efficiency in Liaoning.