Conformity With the Standard Sustainability Practices for Trades in Agricultural Produce and Its Determinants: A Study on the UN Member Countries

Abstract

International trade has been identified as an important engine for the achievements of the SDGs as a part of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development organized by the United Nations in 2015. For participation in the world exports the countries need to reorient them by means of developing appropriate policies, infrastructure and educated workforce. A report jointly prepared by World Economic Forum (WEF) and ISEAL Alliance strongly advocates in favor of practicing sustainability as per the requirements prescribed by the voluntary sustainability standards in order to contribute to the 2030 Agenda. An attempt has been made here to i) measure the extent of compliance in sustainability practices among producers and exporters of the agricultural products, and ii) identify the prominent influencers in achieving compliance at the country level. Empirical findings indicate wide range of diversities. Also, the study identifies some important influencers of such lack of conformity. Those are: Musculinity, Individualism and Power Distance (category-culture), GDP (category-economic) and Human Capital Index, Total Innovation Index, Innovation Input and Innovation Output (category-innovation).