Pathways to Sustainable Agriculture in Emerging Markets: Firm Level Evidence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31674/ijbb.2025.v02i04.005Abstract
In order to achieve climate resilience and food security by 2030 the transition towards sustainable and regenerative food systems is critical, yet firm-level evidence investigating the drivers of sustainable agriculture is missing in emerging economies. The study investigates the impact of green finance and technological advancement, sustainability performance and firm growth opportunities. The study investigates a balanced dataset of Agri-filled firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The study allocates fixed-effects panel regression and mediation analysis, predicting that technological advancement has a statistically strong and positive impact on sustainable performance. However, green finance possesses no direct impact. Sustainability performance exerts a significant positive impact on firm growth. The mediation analysis predicts that sustainability performance fully transmitted effects of technological advancement on firm growth whereas, green finance remains having no effect at all on firm growth in the presence of sustainability performance as a mediator.
The insignificance of green finance suggests that green labelled financial resources do not necessarily translate into regenerative practices in agriculture domain, likely due to weak operational integration, lack of infrastructure, institutional barriers and limited absorptive capacity. These findings also highlight the importance of Climate Smart Agriculture Framework as; climate smart technologies lay out the basis for sustainability practices for regenerative agriculture.
The study is highly effective for policy insights emphasizing that green financial instruments alone are not enough to create climate resilient and equitable food systems. However, investments in digital farming, Agri- based technological advancement and agricultural innovation could produce more effective approach for climate resilience.
Keywords:
Green Finance, Climate Resilience, Technological Advancement, Equitable Food Systems, Sustainability PerformanceReferences
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