Productivity Growth and Resource Degradation in Pakistan's Punjab : A Decomposition Analysis

Ali, Mubarik; Byerlee, Derek

Productivity Growth and Resource Degradation in Pakistan's Punjab : A Decomposition Analysis

2000

Ali, Mubarik | Byerlee, Derek

The introduction of green revolution technologies in wheat, and rice production in Asia, in the mid 1960s reversed the food crisis, and stimulated rapid agricultural, and economic growth. But the sustainability of this intensification strategy is being questioned, in light of the heavy use of external inputs, and growing evidence of a slowdown in productivity growth, and degradation of the resource base. The authors address the critical issue of long-term productivity, and the sustainability of Pakistan's irrigated agriculture. To estimate changes in total factor productivity in four production systems of Punjab province, they assemble district-level data on 33 crops, 8 livestock products, and 17 input categories. They find that average annual growth in total factor productivity was moderately high (1.26 percent) for both crops, and livestock for the period 1966-94, but observe wide variation in productivity growth by cropping system. A second, disaggregated data set on soil, and water quality reveals significant resource degradation. The authors use the two data sets to decompose the effects of technical change, and resource degradation through application of a cost function. They find that continuous, and widespread resource degradation (as measured by soil and water quality variables) has had a significant negative effect on productivity, especially in the wheat-rice system, where resource degradation has more than offset the productivity effects of technological change. Degradation of the health of the agro-ecosystem was related in part, to modern technologies, mono-cropping, and mismanagement of water resources. The results call for urgent analysis of technology, and options to arrest the degradation of resources.

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Mots clés AGROVOC

agricultural productivity agricultural systems agriculture animals by-products cereals cotton crop rotation crops cultivation decision making decomposition double cropping economic growth economists elasticities environmental degradation equilibrium farmers farming food security green revolution groundwater growth rate human capital imports irrigation land productivity livestock livestock products maize meat pesticide pollution population growth production systems productivity rice rural development salinity soil soil fertility soil organic matter soil quality sugarcane total costs water quality water resources water scarcity water supply wheat yields

Informations bibliographiques

Editeur

World Bank, Washington, DC

D'autres materias

Opportunity cost; Crop; Marginal cost; Productivity growth; Variable inputs; Production function; Rice varieties; Economic research; Allocative efficiency; Development strategies; Externalities; Vegetable research; Cotton yields; Cost functions; Livestock outputs; Input prices; Total factor productivity growth; Ecosystem health; Cropping intensity; Natural resource degradation; Labor demand; Fertilizer use; Fertilizer; External inputs; Farm; Labor productivity; Soils; Profit maximization; Fixed inputs; Tubewells; Cropping; Rice production; Returns to scale; Marginal cost pricing; Total factor productivity; Water prices; Input use; Technological progress; Temporary equilibrium; Technological change

Langue

anglais

Format

application/pdf, text/plain

Licence

CC BY 3.0 IGO, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/

Sur AGRIS depuis: 2024-10-18

Date de modification: 2025-04-17

Format: Dublin Core

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Cette notice bibliographique a été fournie par World Bank

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