Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Poverty Eradication in Pakistan: The Role of Foreign Aid and Government Policies

Abstract

For decades, agriculture has been central to economic growth and development in Pakistan. However, endemic rural poverty hinders the performance of agricultural production, and thus deteriorates the sustainable development perspectives of the agricultural sector and the entire country. The need for agricultural reform emphasizes raising farmers’ incomes as a cornerstone of the sustainable development of rural areas, and this study attempts to reveal the effects of foreign aid and government policies on the level of rural poverty in Pakistan. In total, 384 farmers from major agricultural areas of Pakistan completed the survey-based questionnaire. The partial least square structural equation modelling technique tested the results. They, using sustainable agriculture practices, improved agricultural production positively and significantly. Agriculture production positively and significantly reduces or mitigates poverty. This study aimed to reveal the role of foreign aid in sustaining agricultural production and eradicating rural poverty. Foreign aid positively moderated the association between sustainable agriculture practices and agricultural production. In addition, government policies negatively, yet insignificantly, moderate the association between agriculture production and poverty reduction. Furthermore, the findings indicate that agriculture production positively and significantly mediates the association between sustainable agriculture practices and poverty reduction. The study contributes to the literature by improving the understanding of linkages within the poverty-policies-aid-sustainability framework.

Farmers’ resilience to climate change through the circular economy and sustainable agriculture: a review from developed and developing countries

“…The agricultural diversification strategy was environmentally safe yet financially unviable and required excessive implementation time (Kiani et al, 2021). Sikandar et al (2022) argued that foreign aid is one of the solutions to improve a positive relationship between SAPs and farm production.…”

“…With our limited scope of policy evaluations regarding the implementation of CE and SA at the farm level, further research should quantitatively analyze the effect of several public policies on farmers' implementation of the practice in developed and developing countries. An exciting finding from Sikandar et al (2022) worth mentioning is the effect of foreign aid farmers need in developing countries to successfully connect SAPs and high agricultural production. In addition, our findings admitted narrow literature on policy mentioning CE and farmers.…”

Sustaining Performance of Wheat–Rice Farms in Pakistan: The Effects of Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion

“…While financial literacy and sustainable farm performance have not been linked in recent literature, the concept of sustainable agriculture suggests that increased literacy of farmers would improve the performance of the farms. According to Gao et al [41] and Sikandar et al [42], sustainable agriculture is about more than just sustaining farmers, resources, and communities. It is about promoting farming practices and methods that are profitable, environmentally sound, and good for communities.…”

Dynamic Analysis of Watershed Management and Sustainable Agriculture in Dryland Regions: A Case Study of Purulia District, West Bengal

“…However, there is a lack of a theoretical model that both includes inputs used in agriculture, such as land and water, and addresses the concept of sustainability. However, it is worth mentioning that sustainable agriculture cannot be achieved without environmental sustainability, economic viability and production efficiency (Sikandar et al, 2022). All these components have been taken into account in this study through the sustainable use of groundwater, the net present profit value of a farmer and technologies used in crop production for both highly water-intensive crops and less water-intensive crops.…”

“…2.Sustainable agriculture is defined as production to meet the demand of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations (Sikandar et al, 2022). …”