Regional Productivity Differential and Technology Gap In African Agriculture: A Stochastic Metafrontier Approach

Higher agricultural productivity in African agriculture is important for achieving the sustainable development goals of no poverty and zero hunger. However, productivity levels in African agriculture are very low and strategies for improving productivity have not produced the desired outcome. Successful productivity improvement strategies are contingent on identifying sources of productivity growth in African agriculture, and devising strategies to increasing productivity. This paper uses recent advances in the stochastic metafrontier literature to decompose efficiency into technical efficiency and technology gap. Generally, the results show an average efficiency of 71%, indicating about 29% shortfall in efficiency in African agriculture. Specifically, the results show that Central African countries are more productive compared to the other regions. The study also showed that improved agricultural technologies lead to productivity increases. The source of inefficiency is attributable to technological inefficiency rather than technical inefficiency because the empirical estimates show that almost all countries are producing close to the regional frontier. Using the bootstrap truncated regression model, factors such as agricultural research & development, trade openness and literacy were determined as having efficiency increasing effects. The study therefore recommends greater investment in agricultural research and development, and more trade openness to reduce the technology gaps and increase overall productivity of African Agricultur