Dynamics of Agricultural Productivity and Poverty in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper addresses two topics which essentially compliment each other. The first is the empirical investigation of the relationship between aggregate agricultural productivity and poverty in Pakistan through the course of time. The second is the estimation of the central inputs or determinants of agricultural production, again on an aggregate level and through time. The main empirical findings of this research suggest that increases in agricultural productivity have alleviated poverty in Pakistan but not to the extent to which the negative forces of a high population growth and increasing food prices have worsened its incidence. In the case of the determinants of agricultural productivity, the results show that accompanied with the size of the cropped area, fertiliser off-take has played the most significant and powerful role in increasing agricultural productivity through time in Pakistan, especially at the onset of the Green Revolution __ the introduction of High Yield Variety crops and seeds in the late sixties.

Decomposition of Total Factor Productivity of Cash Crops in Pakistan: A Malmquist Data Envelop Analysis

“…This paper analyzed total factor productivity by decomposing it into technical efficiency change and technological change by applying the Malmquist productivity index, using data envelop analysis from 1980 to 2018. Different researchers worked on and conducted studies to analyze the agricultural productivity of Pakistan (Parikh and Shah, 1994;Hussain and Ishfaq, 1997;Khan et al, 2003;Iqbal et al, 2002;Ahmad, 2001;Mushtaq and Dawson, 2003;Ali and Iqbal, 2004;Ali and Iqbal, 2005;Kiani et al, 2008;Fatima and Yasmin, 2016). However, these studies used old data sets or focused on partial studies.…”