Green Productivity growth in Chinese Agriculture Industry–A novel approach and its empirical verification

In light of China's commitment to achieving its dual carbon goals, the emphasis on green agriculture has intensified. The green total factor productivity (TFP) in agriculture serves as a critical indicator for gauging sustainable development within this sector. This paper presents an innovative Malmquist-type green TFP index, which is derived by integrating the directional distance function into the Malmquist productivity measurement framework. This index provides an accurate representation of the current state of agricultural green development and aligns more closely with Kendrick's (1961) modern concept of productivity. From an empirical standpoint, this study assesses the green TFP in agriculture, taking into account undesirable outputs such as carbon emissions, using data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning the period from 2010 to 2021. Additionally, it offers a comparative analysis of regional disparities among the eastern, central, and western regions. Findings suggest that the Chinese agricultural sector has witnessed notable advancements in green productivity. Both efficiency changes and scale efficiency changes have been instrumental in driving this robust growth. When examined through the lens of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, the central and western regions exhibit significantly superior productivity growth compared to the eastern region, attributed largely to their expanded scale efficiency. Conversely, the eastern region has invested more heavily in enhancing agricultural production technology, leading to a greater increase in technical efficiency than observed in other regions.