The Case of India 89 



Measured Productivity Growth 



Table 6.1 shows rates of growth of total factor productivity^ for 

 each major state and for the country as a whole (see figure 6.1). 

 The major details of the construction are: ^ 



1. The output series is a price- weighted Laspeyres index of the 

 quantity of agricultural commodities produced: the series to 

 1964 is taken from Growth Rates In Agriculture (1969). Later 

 years were calculated from detailed commodity data. 



2. The input series is computed as a factor-share-weighted in- 

 dex (Divisia type) of rates of input growth.'* 



3. Input growth rates were calculated on an annual basis for 

 land, fertilizer, pumpsets, and tractors (after 1960). For 

 animal power and implements, the growth rates were based 

 on livestock census data for five-year intervals. The labor in- 

 put growth rate was calculated as a constant rate between the 

 1951, 1961, and 1971 censuses. 



4. Factor shares were computed for 1961, 1966, and 1971 and 

 applied to periods 1, 2, and 3. 



In table 6.1, the total input growth rate is disaggregated into the 

 contributions of traditional inputs — land (including canal irriga- 

 tion), labor, and animal power— and of modern inputs— fertilizer, 

 tractors, and pumpset irrigation.^ The productivity growth rate is 

 measured as a residual, being simply the difference between the 

 growth rate of output and the growth rate of inputs. Each input is 

 priced, in computing the shares, at market prices or, at the best, 

 estimates of market price available. All labor is priced at the 

 hired-labor wage rates. Different wage rates for males and females 

 for each state were used, and National Sample Survey data on the 

 number of days worked per year were utilized to obtain the labor 

 shares. Market prices were used on the assumption that they ap- 

 proximated marginal products. 



2. See chapter 1 for a review of agricultural productivity growth in several 

 countries. 



3. Appendix 7 reports annual state indexes of input, output, and productivity, 

 and appendix 8 describes in detail methods of calculation. 



4. See appendix table 8 for factor shares. 



5. The rate of growth of total inputs is the sum of the factor shares times the 

 rate of growth of the individual inputs. Because they are additive, the disaggrega- 

 tion is possible. 



