Total factor productivity growth of the Tunisian agricultural sector: a review of historical trends and main determinants

The objective of this paper is to calculate the total factors productivity (TFP) growth of the Tunisian agricultural sector, between 1961 and 2012, and to assess its main determinants. Data about agricultural inputs and outputs was collected for the mentioned period, and used to calculate the Tornqvist TFP index. Another set of explicative variables was also used to assess the main determinants of the productivity gains. The results showed that TFP in Tunisia was highly fluctuating during the last four decades, which was mainly due to the variability of the agricultural output index. This is stressing the dependency of this output to the climatic conditions. The results also show that some structural characteristics of the agricultural sector, such as the share of cereal (main crop) areas in the total cropped areas, and the rural GDP growth, are significantly and negatively slowing down productivity gains of this sector.