An Empirical Study on the Total Factor Productivity of Food Production in China: 1978-2010

This study examines the total factor productivity of food production in China from 1978 to 2010 based on the panel data of 29 provinces and by using DEA and Malmquist productivity index.The results show that: the total factor productivity of food increases with the positive growth in technical change index and pure efficiency index;the increase of technical change index is attributed to the national agricultural policy,and the increase of pure technical efficiency index is attributed to the level of per-mu return;the provinces of large or middle production scale are in a stage of constant return to scale,and those of small scale are in a stage of increasing return to scale.