International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (Oct 2023)
THE NEXUS BETWEEN LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (1991-2021)
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between labour productivity and agricultural agriculture development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1991 to 2021. The study is based cross-sectional data covering the period 1991-2021 on nine (9) SSA countries sourced from the World Bank Development Indicator (WDI) database. The result of the Panel Dynamic Least Squares (POLS) estimation technique utilised revealed that population growth (β = 0.0203, t-value = 2.092, & Prob. = 0.0398) exerts a significant positive effect on agricultural development while both industrial output (β = -0.8698, t-value = -2.1225, & Prob. = 0.0371) and services productivity (-1.2667, t-value = -2.6510, & Prob. = 0.0098) exert a significant negative effect at 5% level of significance. Although, the effect of labour productivity on agricultural development is negative (β = -0.2335, t-value = -0.949, Prob. = 0.3455), it is not statistically significant. Thus, the low productivity in industrial sector and the structural shift in favour of services posed adverse effect on agricultural productivity in SSA. This underscore the need to maximise the potentials of the population growth through policy options including rural infrastructural development, price supports, crop insurance and tax incentives to stabilise income and make the sector attractive to the labour force.
