Maximizing Cereal Yields in South Asia: The Impact of Agricultural Inputs

Food security is a top priority of developing countries. Most of these countries are highly populated and face issues of low agricultural productivity and food poverty. In these nations, being self-sufficient in food supplies is a highly desired objective. This study aimed to determine the comparative impact of different inputs on the production of cereals in South Asia. The data used for the study is taken from the World Development Indicators (WDI), which spans the years 1990 to 2021. Owing to the nature of the data, the panel data model was used for analysis. All three-panel model techniques of pooled OLS, fixed effect, and random effects are employed for analysis. Nonetheless, fertilizer consumption, agricultural machinery in the form of tractors, and annual freshwater withdrawal are found to have a positive and significant impact on the output of cereal crops in the sample countries according to a large number of the model results. However, the results for the labor force and land are significant and inversely related to those for cereal crop production in the sample countries, which may be due to the predominance of capital-intensive agriculture. The results of this study will assist South Asian nations in addressing concerns about food supply and self-sufficiency more effectively. A lot of research has looked at how inputs affect agricultural productivity at the national or subnational level. In this study, the effects of several closely related agricultural inputs on "cereal production for entire South Asia" were examined. By changing investment, policy, market behavior, and overall agricultural productivity, the study will have a major economic impact on economies.