Environmental efficiency in South Asian agriculture: A potential of reducing CO2 emissions and fertilizers usage

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Sonali Sharma
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2327

ACADEMIC PAPER

Environmental efficiency in South Asian agriculture:

A potential of reducing CO2 emissions and fertilizers usage

Sonali Sharma

School of Economics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi

University, Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Correspondence

Sonali Sharma, School of Economics, Shri Mata

Vaishno Devi University, Katra, Jammu and

Kashmir 182320, India.

Email: sonasharma081994@gmail.com

South Asian governments have introduced renewable energy policies for the reduc-

tion of CO2 emissions while keeping up with the demand for food by enhancing agri-

cultural production. Therefore, it is a need to examine the efficiency analysis of

agriculture by incorporating CO2 emissions as a bad output for measuring sustain-

ability in their agriculture practices. Also, the study calculated the potential reduction

of CO2 emissions and the usage of fertilizers to make agricultural practices sustain-

able and environmentally efficient. This study estimated the productivity change,

technical, and environmental efficiency of rice production for selected South Asian

countries. Data were obtained from the FAO-STAT website from 2002 to 2014. The

change in rice productivity was measured through total factor productivity (TFP)

scores by applying the Malmquist Index (MI) approach. Traditional data envelopment

analysis (DEA) models and Slacks based model (SBM-DEA) were applied for the mea-

surement of technical and environmental efficiency, respectively. The results of the

MI approach showed that Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka were

found to have positive changes in TFP. The results of technical and environmental

efficiency indicated that Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India were found efficient through-

out the study period. Afghanistan and Pakistan were found environmentally most

inefficient. The slack obtained from the SBM-DEA indicated that Pakistan, Afghani-

stan, and Sri Lanka had a huge potential to reduce CO2 emissions and usage of fertil-

izers. Furthermore, this study provides an overview of the sustainable status of

agriculture and also provides suggestions in selected South Asian countries.

1|INTRODUCTION

Agriculture acts a leading role in South Asia, paying to more than 10%

of gross domestic product (GDP) in the utmost regional economies,

and generating jobs for over one-third of the working population in

the region (Anbumozhi, Breiling, Pathmarajah, & Reddy, 2012). As in

the case of other developing regions of the world, three-fourths of

the poor of South Asia resides in rural areas, and the majority of them

are dependent on agriculture (Anbumozhi et al., 2012). South Asia is

home to 1.6 billion people and covers an area of 4.5 ×106 km

2

(Patra

et al., 2013). The South Asian countries are largely self-sufficient in

food production through a wide range of natural resources, and farm-

ing practices (FRA, 2010). In developing countries particularly in South

Asia, the majority of farmers' livelihood and food security are depen-

dent on rainfed croplands (Bandara & Cai, 2014; Campbell

et al., 2016). A total of 600 million South Asians live with less than US

$1.25 a day and were below the poverty line (Amjath-Babu,

Aggarwal, & Vermeulen, 2019), and the majority of them are directly

or indirectly dependent on agriculture (Hertel, Burke, & Lobell, 2010).

The increase in food production is a must to feed our rising demands

but to address climate change, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission

must decline. The emissions of GHGs are the most important cause of

global warming all over the world. Among GHGs, emissions of CO2

are the highest.

With increasing apprehension for sustainable economic growth,

developing countries are now understanding about environment-

Received: 2 June 2020 Revised: 2 July 2020 Accepted: 24 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2327

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2327. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of8

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2327