Total factor productivity growth in paddy production of Sri Lanka

This study examines the total factor productivity and sources of growth in paddy sector of Sri Lanka over the period 1974-2003. For this purpose, secondary data related to production of paddy, and its major inputs such as amount of fertilizer, area of cultivated and irrigated land and labour usage were collected from Central bank annual reports in Sri Lanka. The total factor productivity and its major components such as efficiency change, technological efficiency change, pure technical change and scale efficiency change were measured in Malmquist productivity index. The results of the Malmquist index without labour usage as an input reveal that, over the study period on average total factor productivity was found to be positive and there was a 0.4% of growth attained in the paddy sector. On the other hand, including usage of labour input, the growth rate of total factor productivity was attained at 0.6% in the same period. The overall findings of the study may help to the policy makers to implement the appropriate strategies and policies which lead to raise the efficiency and productivity of paddy sector in the future.