Asymmetric impacts of ICT and energy intensity on agricultural productivity: Evidence from Asia-Pacific region

In the contemporary times of rising food insecurity and malnutrition, the agricultural sector needs more attention. This study aims to investigate the asymmetric impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs), energy intensity, urbanization, and inequality on agricultural productivity for 20 Asia-Pacific countries from 1990 to 2020. To investigate asymmetric impacts, the study employs the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The estimated results revealed that positive and negative shocks in ICT, energy intensity, and urbanization have asymmetric impacts on agricultural productivity in the long run, whereas symmetry is observed in short-run impacts. It is found that a 1% increase (decrease) in ICT and urbanization increases (decreases) agricultural productivity by 0.292% (0.662%) and 2.717% (2.759%), respectively, whereas a 1% increase (decrease) in energy intensity decreases (increases) agricultural productivity by 0.252% (0.216%) in the long run. Furthermore, the results of the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test point out the existence of bi-directional causality between agricultural productivity and the independent variables (ICT, energy intensity, urbanization, and inequality). Based on the findings, the study suggests that the Asia-Pacific countries should increase the application of ICT and use energy more efficiently in agriculture to boost agricultural productivity.