Abstract: Based on the panel data of japonica rice production in 12 provinces in China from 1999 to 2013, this paper adopts a DEA-based Malmquist productivity index method to measure and decompose TFP (Total Factor Productivity) growth. Results show that the TFP index of main production areas has shown an average annual increase of 4.59% within 15 years, and the technological progress also has an average decrease of 5.14%. In addition, the TFP was also influenced by the decline of technical progress. Further convergence test indicated that the TFP of production areas does not exist σ convergence trend, but there is an absolute convergence and conditional convergence. To narrow the differences of technical efficiency among different provinces, it is critical to improve the efficiency, to increase technology investment, and to enlarge the production scale. Policy suggestions include: 1) to formulate different development paths according to the different regional characteristics of factor endowments; 2) the main producing areas of the northeast of China should adopt the land scale management of agricultural mechanization; while in the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze River, the capital investment should be increased to promote the technology diffusion and the scale of the development of production services.