This paper has used multilateral foreign divestment (FD) data covering 1991 to 2017 for 50 countries, fitted to an optimised model based on microeconomic theory, to estimate the drivers of FD out of agriculture. Identifying the factors that determine FD would offer an opportunity for policymakers to know what kind of policies can discourage FD. Furthermore, knowledge of the directional effect would offer a way to use the policy variables to appropriately influence FD. Market size, exchange rate, political regime characteristics and transitions as well as the level of development drive FD out of agriculture globally. Trade openness and access to land resources have not been found to determine FD. Consequently, agricultural economy managers should work towards increasing the size of the agricultural economy; they should also liaise with their respective country’s Central Banks with a view to ensure exchange rate stability, and with their governments in order to promote better political regime characteristics and smoother political transitions.

This article examines the variations in mean technical efficiency estimates in organic agriculture and the factors that explain the observed variations. A three-stage process was employed in data collection. Firstly, journals on organic agriculture and related disciplines were identified and searched. Secondly, several publishers’ websites and databases, namely Cambridge Journals, Elsevier, Emerald, Oxford University Press, Sage, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley, among others, were covered. Databases included AgEcon Search, CAB Abstracts, DOAJ, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect. Thirdly, the reference lists of studies found in the first and second stages were searched to identify additional literature. In all, 42 studies constituting 109 observations published in the period 2002-2014 were found. Unlike existing literature on technical efficiency quantitative reviews in agriculture, this article employs a battery of tests to select the appropriate solution for multiple observations from the same primary study, as well as the appropriate functional form for the selected fractional regression model. The mean technical efficiency of organic agriculture for the period of study and the effects of other study characteristics are thoroughly discussed.