PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, TECHNOLOGICAL-PROGRESS, AND EFFICIENCY CHANGE INCHINESE AGRICULTURE AFTER RURAL ECONOMIC-REFORMS - A DEA APPROACH

This study applies a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to analy ze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Ch inese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty-nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist (1953) productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change ind ex. The results show that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories during the 1984-93 period. Te chnical progress was mostly attributed to Chinese agricultural product ivity growth after the rural economic reforms. The deterioration in te chnical efficiency in many provinces indicates China has great potenti al to increase productivity through improved technical efficiency. Enh ancing rural education and research and development (R&D) in agri cult ure may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and producti vity in agricultural production.