Starting in the 1970’s, the Brazilian agricultural sector has experienced an important process of modernization, whose principal effects include advances in technological progress and gains in productivity. The primary objective of this paper is to analyze technological progress and total productivity growth in the Brazilian agricultural sector during the period from 1970 to 1996. The methodolo...

We ask whether prime-age adult mortality due to HIV/AIDS decreases the endowment of knowledge for agricultural production in Kagera, Tanzania, reducing total factor productivity. We also quantify how much this negative effect contributes to the decrease in long-term household agricultural income growth compared to the contribution of decreased accumulation of productive assets; household member...

Water Productivity (WP) of a crop defines the relationship between the economic or physical yield of the crop and its water use. With this concept it is possible to identify disproportionate water use or water-limited yield gaps and thereby support improvements in agricultural water management. However, too often important qualitative and quantitative environmental factors are not part of a WP ...

Abiotic stress limits crop productivity [1], and plays a major role in determining the distri‐ bution of plant species across different types of environments. Abiotic stress and its effects on plants in both natural and agricultural settings is a topic that is receiving increasing at‐ tention because of the potential impacts of climate change on rainfall patterns and tempera‐ ture extremes, sal...

BACKGROUND: Seed can play a critical role in increasing agricultural productivity: it determines the upper limit of crop yields and the productivity of all other agricultural inputs to the farming system. In the mid-1970s, governments and donors recognized the critical role of seed in agricultural transformation and began to provide substantial support for seed system development. Since then, F...

Agriculture is the largest sector in most sub-Saharan economies in terms of employment, and it plays an important role in supplying food and export earnings. Rural poverty rates remain high, and labor productivity is strikingly low. This paper asks how these factors shape the role of agriculture in African development strategies. Is agricultural growth a prerequisite for growth in other sectors...

In agrarian developing countries the natural environment is a key determinant of both poverty and nutritional status. Climate, terrain, and soil characteristics drive the agricultural system, determining in large part cropping patterns, choice of crops, yield rates, and overall productivity levels. The human resources crucial to agricultural productivity are also influenced by the natural envir...

Agricultural productivity levels in Mozambique lag behind most of its neighbors that have climatic and socioeconomic similarities. Data from the World Bank (2012) indicate that the average cereal yields in 2011/12 in Mozambique were estimated at 700 kg/ha, which is three and four times lower than the average cereal yields in Malawi (2.1 ton/ha) and Zambia (2.7 tons/ha), respectively. The limite...