Disaggregate Productivity Growth in Livestock Production: A Directional Malmquist Index Approach

Limited data on the allocation of inputs to different activities has limited agricultural economists' attempts to measure sub-sector productivity growth in agriculture. However, recent developments have enabled us to estimate total factor productivity (TFP) growth for crops and livestock accounting for input-output allocation. This paper extends previous work on TFP measurement for livestock into ruminants and non-ruminant productivity measurement, given the differences in productivity growth rates among these species. The results show that the non-ruminant sector is more dynamic than the ruminant sector, driving most of the productivity growth within the livestock sector. Given the rapid rates of productivity growth observed recently, non-ruminant productivity in developing countries may soon be converging to the productivity levels of developed countries.