ANALYSIS OF CHANGES OF CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS IMPACT FACTORS——From the 1991—2008 Annual Malmquist Index Approach

This paper analyzes the changes of agricultural total factor productivity(TFP) in China's 29 provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions,and discusses reasons for the differences of TFP growth in agriculture.First,the authors select the input and output indicators according to KS and T tests;and then they calculate TFP index of China's agriculture and its components using non-parametric Malmquist index method.Finally,they analyze the factors impacting agricultural TFP with panel two-stage least squares.The results show that:(Ⅰ) the effect that rural practitioners have on the efficiency value of agricultural production is rather obvious;(Ⅱ) technological progress is the main reason for the growth of agricultural TFP;(Ⅲ) the inter-regional difference in agricultural TFP is relatively large;(Ⅳ) both the level of fiscal support for agriculture and the role that agriculture plays in the overall economy have significant impact on the changes of agricultural TFP.