Water resources and sustainable rice farming in Asia: Assessing the role of renewable energy

In Asia, rice farming is crucial in ensuring food security and nutrition for an increasing population and advancing Sustainable Development Goals. Hence, this study examines the impact of water resources' impact on rice yield while controlling for green energy supply, cultivated area, nitrogen fertilizer application, and labor force for a sample of selected Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan) from 1992 to 2020. The Pooled Mean Group method is employed in the study, while we utilize additional techniques, namely Dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and Fully modified least squares (FM-OLS), to enhance the robustness of our findings. The empirical outcomes showed that water resources, green energy supply, cultivated area, and nitrogen fertilizer application significantly and positively impact rice yield in the long run. Our findings confirm that water resources and green energy enhance rice crop yield in the top five Asian economies. Reliable panel-causality outcomes were also achieved. Based on the findings, this research recommends several policy suggestions to achieve SDG-2 and promote food security in Asian countries. • The purpose of this study is to investigate the long-term effect of water resources and renewable technology on rice production. • We employ the PMG, DOLS, and FM-OLS methods for panel data estimation of the Asian countries. • The results reveal that water resources and renewable energy can substantially enhance rice production. • Input factors including cultivated land and fertilizer use significantly contribute to rice production.