This paper attempts to examine and revisit the trends in agricultural productivity in Botswana. Using secondary data from six regions of Botswana for the period 1979 to 2012, we estimate components of total factor productivity (TFP) using the Färe-Primont index. Estimates of technical change and changes in technical efficiency, scale efficiency and mix efficiency are obtained. The results show that the annual TFP has declined gradually over the period, predominantly due to a decline in technical efficiency and a slight decline in mix efficiency and scale efficiency. The regions with a significant proportion of arable agriculture performed worse than those that specialise in livestock production, thus confirming the comparative advantage of extensive livestock production in semi-arid countries such as Botswana. This study shows how the finer decomposition of TFP into different measures may assist in the identification of the main drivers of productivity and associated policies.

The purpose of this study is to explore reasons for the decline in agricultural performance in Botswana that has occurred during the implementation of a variety of policy measures, as well as the introduction of new technologies, and to identify ways in which it might be reversed. Panel data from six regions in Botswana (period 1979-2012) is analyzed with a stochastic output distance function and inefficiency effects model. We decompose agricultural output growth into; total factor productivity (TFP) and changes in input use (factors of production). TFP is further decomposed into scale effects, technical efficiency and technological change. The results show that over the study period agricultural output grew at a very low rate of 0.072 percent per year, which is largely due to a growth in factors of production at 0.071 percent per year rather than TFP growth (which declined at 0.003 percent per year). We found that the decline in productivity has been due to technological regress and low growth in technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Policy options aimed at improving agricultural productivity and output growth will require the strengthening of extension services; improving the agronomic and husbandry management skills of farmers through training; and by encouraging farmers to adopt and utilize technologies that have been provided under existing policy programs.

To improve the welfare of the rural poor and to decrease the dependence of the national economy on minerals, the government of Botswana has been spending 40% of the value of agricultural GDP on agricultural support services. Despite this massive investment, there is evidence that agricultural productivity has declined in recent years. This paper attempts to explore the reasons for this decline. We use secondary data from six regions of Botswana (covering the period 1979 to 2012) to construct a Fare-Primont index of productivity following the approach proposed by O'Donnell (2012). The results of the analysis show that annual TFP has gradually declined over the period. This decline is predominantly due to technological regress which is offset by some increase in scale and mix efficiency.

Agriculture plays an important role in Botswana, providing food, income, employment and investment opportunities for the majority of the rural population. However, over the last two decades, the contribution of agriculture to the economy and rural development has declined leading to a progressive increase in food imports. Low growth in the agricultural sector has been attributed to low productivity, which could be attributed to the recurring drought conditions that prevail in many parts of the country, and partly by the small scale of farms. Remarkably, this decline in agricultural performance in Botswana has coincided with a period of major policy reform, the objective of which is to improve agricultural performance. This study measures the performance of the agricultural sector and investigates the reasons for continuing decline in spite of considerable public expenditure. Using panel data from 1979 to 2012, the study calculates various indicators to assess the different drivers of the performance of the sector across different agricultural districts, agro-ecological regions, production systems and sub-sectors. A nonparametric approach is employed to examine trends in agricultural productivity in six regions of Botswana. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) are obtained and decomposed into various sources including efficiency change (technical, scale and mix efficiency) and technical change. The results show that TFP declined due to a fall in overall efficiency at 3.1 per cent per annum. Moreover, a parametric stochastic distance frontier approach is used to examine sources of efficiency, productivity and output growth and the possible reasons for the decline in productivity. It was found that the main driver of productivity is improvement in technical efficiency. The results show that various programs introduced during the study period did not lead to any improvement in productive efficiency. Results from both parametric and nonparametric approaches indicate that overall efficiency varies from region to region, which suggest that there is a scope for improving productivity by taking a differential regional approach to efforts aimed at increasing efficiency.

The beef cattle production system in Botswana is dualistic in structure in that it includes both traditional and commercial production systems, which are distinct from one another in terms of objectives, land tenure, technology, and management practices. The purpose of this paper is to measure the key performance indicators of beef cattle production systems in Botswana and explore the drivers of change in those indicators. We examine differences in productivity and production technologies between the two beef production systems. The results show that traditional farms are technically inefficient and that their technology lags behind that of commercial farms. The use of improved breeds, off-take rates and selling to the Botswana Meat Commission (which control the only exporting abattoirs in Botswana) were found to improve technical efficiency in the commercial production system, but only off-take rates had a positive effect on efficiency in the traditional production system. Both farming systems have the potential to overcome technology constraints and achieve the highest attainable productivity level through improvements in; beef cattle technologies, farmer capacity in production and marketing, and the effectiveness of the technology transfer process.

This paper examines the technical efficiency of extensive beef farms in different regions of Botswana and attempts to explain differences in regional performance in terms of environmental and economic constraints. Using a panel dataset of 26 agricultural districts (distributed across six agro-ecological regions) for the period 2004 to 2012, we estimate technical efficiency (TE) indices using a standard stochastic production frontier and meta-technological gap ratios (MTR) with a meta-frontier approach. The study finds that farmers use available technology suboptimally and produce far less than potential output. The average TE indices range from as low as 0.40 for Maun, 0.71 for Western and to 0.79 for the Southern region. The mean MTR also varies substantially across regions; high for Western (0.83), Southern (0.80) and Francistown (0.79) regions and low for the Maun region (0.39). A low MTR for the Maun region is attributed to the re-occurrence of FMD and human and wildlife conflict in this region, restricting the ability of farmers to fully reach their potential output. The results of this study have important implications for policy targeting. The study results allow us to identify the differences in productive performance between beef producers in each region of Botswana, and hence where policies to improve production technologies could be focused.