An Evaluation of Changes in Total Productivity of Factors of Production in Iran's Agricultural Sector Using Non Parametric Methods

By definition, productivity is the optimal allocation of resources for the realization of maximum quantity of output. Methods to calculate the productivity of factors of production can be divided into two main categories: parametric and non parametric. According to the fourth development plan all the economic sectors in the country are responsible to contribute to the growth of GDP through the productivity of total production factors. In this study we used non parametric techniques of linear programming and Tornqvist index to evaluate the growth of productivity in agricultural production factors in Iranian economy during the period 1971-2005. The findings indicated that the annual growth of factor productivity in the agricultural sector was equal to 0.73%, which is significantly different from the goals of the fourth plan that was 2.2%.