Climate change and food security in South Asia: the importance of renewable energy and agricultural credit

Abstract

Weather, trade restrictions, rising oil prices, a lack of financial support for farmers, and other factors have contributed to the destabilization of South Asian food security. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-run and short-run relationships between climate change, agricultural credit, renewable energy, and food security for a sample of South Asian countries between 1990 and 2021. The Dynamic Common Correlated technique is utilized for empirical analysis since it directly addresses the issue of cross-sectional dependency while delivering accurate cointegration findings. The study’s empirical findings show that climate change reduces food availability and increases the incidence of food insecurity in South Asia. In contrast, the use of renewable energy sources has a positive effect on food security in the short-run but not in the long-run, while the availability of credit to farmers has a positive effect on food security. Findings suggest that South Asian countries may reduce climate change’s negative effect on food security by investing in climate services, climate-resilient infrastructure, growing drought-resistant crops, using supplemental reinforced agricultural practices, and improving their weather forecasting capabilities.