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In this paper, the heterogeneity of the linkages among financial development, productivity and growth across income groups is emphasized.

An empirical analysis is conducted with an illustrative sample of 130 economies over the period 1991–2019 and classified into four subsamples: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), developing, least developed and net food importing developing countries. Forecast error variance decompositions and panel vector auto-regressive estimations are computed, with insightful findings.

Higher levels of output stimulate the economic development in the agricultural sector, mainly via the productivity channel and, in the most developed economies, also through access to credit. Differently, in developing and least developed economies, the role of access to credit is marginal. The findings have practical implications for stakeholders involved in the planning of long-run investments. In less developed economies, priorities should be given to investments in technology and innovation, whereas financial markets are more suited to boost the development of the agricultural sector of developed economies.

The authors conclude on the credit–output–productivity nexus and contribute to the literature in (at least) three ways. First, they assess how credit access, agricultural output and agricultural productivity are jointly determined. Second, they use a novel approach, which departs from most of the case studies based on single-country data. Third, they conclude on potential causality links to conclude on policy implications.

Little is known about the quantitative impact of macro policies on disaggregated variables. This study investigates the effects of macroeconomic policies and cost/supply shocks on sectoral output growth.

We analyzed empirical evidence from Ghana using a Structural Vector Autoregression approach.

The results show that the transmission of various macro policies and supply/cost shocks is conditional on sectoral idiosyncrasies. Fiscal programs contribute the most to agricultural output growth and the least to industrial production. The downturn from rising costs and supply disruptions is more severe and lasting in the agriculture sector than in the service sector. The evidence shows that fiscal consolidation centered on government consumption cuts would not drag growth over the medium-term.

Our results show that the structural characteristics of a country may play an important role in understanding the output effects of macro policy changes. The empirical evidence shows that targeted policies are needed to complement countercyclical macroeconomic policies to facilitate broad-based economic recovery.

Research on the impact of macro policy shocks on the real economy has usually focused on the behavior of highly aggregated variables. In this research, we focus on disaggregated, sector-level variables to unveil the idiosyncrasies in the performance of disaggregated variables that are usually concealed when studying the behavior of aggregate variables. This study also contributes a different angle to the debate on supply shocks by examining how cost shocks are propagated through the various sectors of the economy.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2023-0876

Ever since China’s implementation of the open-door policy in 1978, there has been a remarkable transformation in the nation’s economic landscape. Undesirably, amidst the rapid urban development, the importance of prioritising and nurturing rural development in China has not received unwavering attention. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has embarked on many ventures to bridge the disparities existing amidst urban and rural areas, revitalise the rural economy, and enhance overall productivity. This paper enunciates the role of the Chinese government in prospering rural areas by implementing policies that align with the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs)- 1, 2 and 12.

This study employed a comprehensive methodology encompassing both primary and secondary research techniques to procure valuable insights and reviewed various Chinese government policies pertaining to rural revitalisation.

The study results demonstrate that throughout the policy implementation, China has contributed to the livelihoods of the rural communities and achieved SDG-1 (ending poverty) by 2030, ten years ahead of Agenda (2030). The country has also substantially improved its rural agricultural system by integrating modern science and technology and aiming to achieve SDG-2 (ensure food security) with the alignment of SDG-12 (sustainable production and consumption). The findings of this research indicate that despite some limitations in China’s rural revitalisation strategy, overall progress is seen in many aspects, particularly in achieving SDG-1, 2, and 12.

The Chinese government has made significant efforts to promote ecological, social, and economic development in rural areas through various national initiatives such as the “New Countryside” and “Rural Revitalisation” strategies. These initiatives have successfully alleviated poverty, increased food production, and ensured sustainable production and consumption. The discoveries presented within this article possess immense value, as they provide profound insights for policymakers, rural planners, and researchers who are fervently searching for viable solutions to tackle the intricate interplay between rural development and sustainability. Therefore, this study has the potential to greatly benefit policymakers from various nations, as they can adopt China’s rural revitalisation model as a means to successfully achieve SDGs 1, 2, and 12.

This study found that despite numerous initiatives to improve rural landscapes, China’s rural revitalisation approach still poses concerns as local governments are likely to focus on increasing income capacity rather than concentrating on establishing environmental governance.

This study investigated the asymmetric effects of changes in policy uncertainty on real sector variables in Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

The study used the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) modeling framework.

The results showed that both in the long run and short run, rising uncertainty not only increases consumer prices significantly in these economies, but also impedes aggregate and sectoral output growths, and deters investment, employment and private consumption. Contrary to economic expectation, the results also showed that in the long run, declining uncertainty impedes aggregate and sectoral output growths in these economies, and significantly hinders employment in South Africa and Brazil. This suggests that in the long run, economic agents in these economies somewhat behave as if uncertainty is rising. The authors also found significant asymmetric effects in the response of real sector variables to uncertainty both in the long run and short run, which justifies the choice of NARDL framework for this study.

The sample is limited to Brazil, India, China and South Africa. While Brazil, India and China are three of the most prominent large emerging market economies, South Africa is the largest emerging market economy in Africa.

To lessen the adverse effects of policy uncertainty observed in the results, there is need for sound institutions and policy regimes that can promote predictable policy responses in these economies so that policy neither serves as a source of uncertainty nor as a channel through which the effects of other shocks are transmitted.

Apart from using the NARDL framework to capture the asymmetric effects of policy uncertainty, this study also accounted for the sectoral effects of uncertainty in emerging markets.

Women make a major contribution to the agricultural sector, especially in developing countries. Despite this, women still face many obstacles in carrying out their agricultural activities. These obstacles have a negative impact on their productivity and create a gender gap. This paper analyses the difference in agricultural productivity between male-headed and female-headed households in Burkina Faso.

Using data from the Permanent Agricultural Survey (EPA), we applied the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method to determine the size of the gender gap and identify the variables explaining this gap. In this study, we used the value of production per farm worker as a measure of productivity.

The results indicate a gender gap of 43.8 percentage points in favor of male-headed households. Around 131% of this difference is explained by differences in observable household characteristics. The factor that most explains this difference in productivity is the difference in the total area of land available to households.

This finding calls for women’s access to land to be considered in the design and implementation of agricultural development policies.

One of the main contributions of this article in relation to previous studies lies in the unit of analysis. Rather than focusing on individual producers, as in previous studies, we have instead considered the household as the unit of analysis, since in developing countries such as Burkina Faso, production decisions are taken at household level. It contributes to inform economic policy decisions by providing decision-makers with the factors on which they can act to bring about an increase in agricultural productivity by reducing the gap between male-headed households and female-headed households.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2023-0923

Smallholders are essential in ensuring food security; however, smallholder-dominated food production often involves high resource-environmental costs. This study analyzed the factors that differentiate horticultural practices, willingness to adopt technology and social networks between optimized practices (OPT) and farmer practices (FP) to provide localized and systematic solutions for the sustainable apple production.

To explore the approach of smallholder-dominated sustainable apple production, 257 apple producers in the Bohai Bay region, a major apple planting area in China, were investigated. Life cycle assessment (LCA), emergy analysis and social network analysis methods were used for evaluation.

The results showed that the net economic profit and emergy sustainability index (ESI) in OPT was 15.8 × 104 RMB·ha-1 and 1.2, respectively, which were 126.9 and 128.0% higher than FP. In contrast, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under OPT was 29.3% lower than those under FP. OPT has a higher percentage of adoption of scientific fertilizer application and water-saving irrigation technologies compared to FP. OPT has strong learning abilities, more social resources (such as technical training and sharing technical experience with others) and connections with stakeholders in the apple supply chain. Optimizing smallholders' social capital, willingness to adopt technology, behavioral willingness and technological awareness can promote sustainable apple production.

Considering the horticultural practices employed by smallholders in conjunction with their social networks, these factors contributed to the transition of smallholder-led apple production toward sustainability. The findings provided viable options and a theoretical basis for smallholder-dominated crop production to move toward sustainability, with significant implications for policymakers.

The present research attempts to delve into the climate-agriculture-migration nexus to ascertain whether the variation in agriculture output due to climatic factors has a significant influence on the emigration flows from the Asian and African continents.

The present study draws upon a rich panel of data from 27 countries (14 African and 13 Asian) between 1995 and 2020. The first stage least square, OLS and 2SLS techniques have been employed to examine the relationships between climatic factors and international migration, climatic factors and agriculture output, and agriculture output and international migration, respectively.

The results exhibit a positive relationship between temperature and international migration. The influence of temperature on agriculture output is negative but insignificant while precipitation promotes agriculture output. In addition, agriculture output negatively influences international migration, and these findings establish a climate-agriculture-migration relationship.

To counteract the climate-agriculture-migration nexus, it is incumbent upon governments to conduct extensive field trials and data collection exercises to assess the influence of climate in separate agro-ecological zones and devise policies accordingly.

The literature concerning the interrelationship between climatic factors, agriculture and migration is scarce and what is available pertains to different contexts. Moreover, no studies are based on Asia and Africa; the continents have a high dependence on agriculture and outmigration rates, and the present research covers this important gap in the literature.

The research aims to assess the relationship between ecological innovation, green productivity, sustainable development and agricultural productivity in Vietnam. The agricultural sector of Vietnam has been observed with new opportunities which have fostered its productivity and growth.

The study uses a range of methods where initially, the researcher used descriptive analysis, cointegration and unit root tests. Secondly, Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) is used to assess the short and long run effects. The QARDL methodology is employed to capture the relationship between variables. Through this approach, the researcher is able to examine the scale of the interaction between dependent and independent variables.

The unique findings drawn through statistical techniques are also a great addition to the context of literature related to Vietnam’s agricultural productivity. Practical insights can also not be denied as the study provides beneficial guidelines for Vietnam’s agricultural sector to refine agricultural productivity.

Scholars are advised to use strong literary techniques to overcome these limitations and give a more thorough investigation into the same ideas. The availability and dependability of data was one of the primary challenges in carrying out this study. Vietnam has made significant advances in the collection and documentation of agricultural data, but there might still be gaps in the availability of thorough and current data on ecological innovation, green production and sustainable development.

Vietnam’s unique socioeconomic, cultural and environmental features influence how ecological innovation, green productivity, sustainable development and agricultural production are interconnected. Consequently, consideration should be taken when applying the results to various scenarios.

This study investigates the impact of board funds, banking credit, and economic development on food production in the context of South Asian economies (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal).

This study used data from the World Development Indicators covering the years 1991–2019. To investigate the relationship between the variables of the study, we employed the panel unit root test, panel cointegration test, cross-sectional dependence test, fully modified least squares (FMOLS), and panel dynamic least squares (DOLS) estimators.

The empirical results indicate that board funding significantly increase food production; however, banking credit had a negative impact. Furthermore, the findings indicate that economic development, Arable land, fertilizer consumption, and agricultural employment play a leading role in enhancing food production. The results of the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test also show substantiated the significance of the causal relationship among all variables.

South Asian countries should prioritize board funding, bank credit, and economic development in their long-term strategies. Ensuring financial access for farmers through micro-credit and public bank initiatives can spur agricultural productivity and economic growth.

This study is the first to combine board funding, banking credit, and economic development to better comprehend their potential impact on food production. Instead of using traditional approaches, this study focuses on these financial and developmental aspects as critical determinants for increasing food production, using evidence from South Asia.