Research and Development Spillover, Irrigation Water Use and Agricultural Production in Pakistan

Abstract

This research entails investigation of the impacts of Research and Development (R&D) spillover and irrigation water use efficiency on agricultural productivity in Pakistan. Influenced through the importance of R&D spillovers in innovation, water scarcity, irrigation technology, internal and external R&D shocks, human capital, agriculture employment and land were analyzed in the agricultural productivity. Considered the research objectives the annual timeseries data is collected for the period of 1973 to 2020 from different sources. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is applied to investigate the contribution of knowledge spillover and water resources efficiency for agricultural production in Pakistan. The results suggest the presence of positive and significant impact of foreign and domestic R&D spillovers on agriculture productivity of Pakistan. Further, the study found presence of larger positive externalities associated with external R&D spillovers in agriculture productivity. The estimates highlight that efficient utilization of water technology performs positive role in agriculture productivity in Pakistan. The results of both human capital and interactive term have negative sign and are significant which has clearly indicated that agriculture labor has less absorptive ability of foreign knowledge spillover. From the estimated results, it is recommended that government needs to focus on availability and accessibility of advance technology for farmers through increased outreach and extension services to educate the farmers and accelerate adoption of innovation in agriculture. Further, it is recommended that the Pakistani government must focus on the exploration of alternative irrigation technology in agriculture production for efficient use of water to increase agriculture productivity. Through the adoption of advanced irrigation techniques, the farmers can conserve the irrigated water, enhance water use efficiency in food production and overcome climatic challenges for agriculture production as well as food insecurity issues in Pakistan.

Resilience in maize production for food security: Evaluating the role of climate-related abiotic stress in Pakistan

“…Tube well (TWL) short-run impacts on maize production (MZP) are statistically significant at the 1 % level (coefficient = −16.796, p-value = 0.004). This study confirms [ [ 66 , 79 ]] that tube wells have a short-run impact on maize productivity.…”

“…This literature review aims [ 65 ] to examine the existing data on how CO2 affects maize output in Pakistan against the backdrop of global warming. According to an empirical study, there will be both beneficial and detrimental consequences of increased atmospheric CO2 levels on maize output [ 66 ]. On the one hand, increased CO2 levels can increase maize production by stimulating photosynthesis and growth [ 67 ].…”

R&D Innovation Adoption, Climatic Sensitivity, and Absorptive Ability Contribution for Agriculture TFP Growth in Pakistan

“…The magnitude value AL t highlights that agriculture land holds a higher share in ATFP t growth and reduction in cultivation land reduces the agriculture productivity. Urbanization is the reason for a reduction in cultivation land and lowering of the agriculture share of GDP [53], creating food security challenges in Pakistan. The outcomes of the study are consistent with the findings of Villoria [48], who empirically found the increase in cropland area to be an agriculture productivity input to increase the ATFP t growth.…”

“…The higher value of ECM (−1) revealed that if there is a disequilibrium in R&D input, adoption and input shocks can be adjusted with higher speed during the given period. The agriculture R&D innovation inputs perform an essential role in bringing ATFP t into its steady-state position [53]. The ECM t (−1) coefficient value is higher due to two cropping seasons (Rabi and Kharif) in Pakistan, with heterogeneously located areas, so if the production of one crop is lower, its production deficiency will recover either during the same crop or during the next crop [53,61].…”