Economic Value of the Use of Chemicals in Agriculture: The Case of European Countries

Abstract

This study is investigated the effects of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural lands on agricultural gross domestic product. The primary purpose of this study; is to prove that conscious chemical support policies should be applied in agriculture to increase yield and quality in agricultural lands. The hypothesis of the study is; when fertilizers and pesticides are used in fertile agricultural lands, the agricultural sector's contribution to the gross domestic product increases.
 
 Panel data analysis was conducted for 27 countries covering 2000-2020. In the analysis, the contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product is taken as the dependent variable. Independent variables; the amount of chemical fertilizer used, hectares of agricultural lands, and pesticides used. The analysis concluded that the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides affected the dependent variable significantly and positively. In addition, it is understand that the most influential factor on the dependent variable is agricultural land. As a result, to increase agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product, countries should educate farmers about the effects and correct use of pesticides and fertilizers. Thus, agricultural productivity and product quality will be increased.

Tarım üretiminde önde gelen ülkelerde tarımsal gübre ve ilaç kullanımının tarımsal GSYİH’ye etkisi; panel veri analizi araştırması

“…When the cointegration parameters are examined, it is found that the long-run coefficient of the fertilizer use variable is statistically significant across the panel, and a 1% increase in fertilizer use in these countries increases agricultural income by approximately 0.4%. This result supports the findings of McArthur andMcCord (2017), Mattey et al (2019), Cen et al (2020), Kutluay Şahin and Şahin (2023) and Zhang et al (2023) that fertilizer use has a positive effect on GDP. On the other hand, the long-run coefficient of the pesticide sales variable is statistically insignificant.…”