Provincial total factor productivity in Vietnamese agriculture and its determinants. This paper was designed to capture the determinants of the agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) level across 60 provinces in Vietnam during the period 1990-2006. The TFP level in Tornqvist form was used to regress on 4 groups of determinant. | Journal of Economics and Development, , , August 2014, pp. 5-20 ISSN 1859 0020 Provincial Total Factor Productivity in Vietnamese Agriculture and Its Determinants Ho Dinh Bao National Economics University, Vietnam Email: hodinhbao@ Abstract This paper was designed to capture the determinants of the agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) level across 60 provinces in Vietnam during the period 1990-2006. The TFP level in Tornqvist form was used to regress on 4 groups of determinants: omitted inputs of agricultural production process; quality of inputs used in agricultural production; technology factors; and output structure. The estimated results showed that: (i) Vietnam’s agricultural sector became relatively more capital intensive; (ii) South provinces were more productive, while North Midlands and Central Coast tended to lag further behind; (iii) labour mobility played a very important role in resources accumulation in agriculture in Vietnam, and so in improving TFP; and (iv) agricultural TFP was significantly influenced by land quality, farm size and land fragmentation. Keywords: Total factor productivity (TFP), Malmquist TFP index, technical efficiency (TE), technical change (TC), productivity level, Tornqvist index, Vietnamese agriculture. Journal of Economics and Development 5 Vol. 16, , August 2014 1. Introduction agricultural TFP in Vietnam. Vietnam’s agriculture has grown remarkably during the last 20 years. Agriculture output has increased by annually during the period 1990-2008. The value of agricultural output grew from VND 62 trillion in 1990 to VND 156 trillion in 2008, excluding inflation effect. However, the agricultural share in GDP has reduced from in 1986 to in 2008 (GSO, 2009). Agricultural growth came from agricultural TFP and growth of agricultural inputs such as labour, tractors, land, and draft animals. This outstanding achievement resulted from the success of the Doi Moi policies .
