Measuring and decomposing total productivity growth of sugar beet production factors in Iran

The purpose of this study is measuring total factor productivity (TFP) growth of sugar beet for different provinces of Iran and then decomposing it to the changes in technical change، managerial efficiency change and scale efficiency change. For this purpose we used the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method and Malmquist productivity index. Results showed that average growth of total factor productivity of sugar beet in country level has been 47 percent during 2000-2007. On the other hand، comparisons between provinces indicate negative TFP growth for Ghazvin، Markazi and Hamedan provinces. Negative growth of productivity in these provinces is often due to managerial technical inefficiency. So، this study proposes that these three provinces، could improve their TFP growth by following successful provinces.