The impact of green finance, natural resources and institutional quality on sustainable agriculture: evidence from Asian countries

Sustainable agricultural development is one of the goals of Asian countries to promote green growth, to ensure food security and the conservation of natural resources. This study investigates the impact of green finance (GF), natural resources (NR) and institutional quality (IQ) on sustainable agriculture in 30 Asian nations over 2002-2020 period employing fully modified least squares (FMOLS), dynamic least squares (DOLS), and generalised method of moments (GMM). The results show that GF, land and economic growth (EG) have a positive impact on agricultural value added (AVA), while NR and IQ have a negative impact on AVA. Research has confirmed resource curse existence in Asian countries. Results suggested that governments of Asian countries should promote GF for agricultural development; governments should issue policies to facilitate farmers and enterprises to access green credit sources; countries need policies to encourage international capital for green agricultural projects, which helps create high-quality, low-emission agricultural products towards sustainable agriculture. It is necessary to reform policies related to the exploitation and appropriate use of natural resources; regulations related to agricultural land conversion need special attention. This research results have considerable policy implications for Asian nations with respect to green finance, natural resources, institutional quality and sustainable agriculture.