Adoption of technologies for agricultural productivity: the moderating role of renewable energy with agricultural land use

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of internet use, mobile phone use, renewable energy, agricultural land and fertiliser consumption on agricultural productivity across 27 developing countries from 2000 to 2021, using Driscoll–Kraay standard error (DSK) and two-step system generalised method of moments (SGMM) estimators. The DSK results indicate that a 1% increase in internet use, mobile phone use and renewable energy enhances agricultural productivity by 0.083%, 0.033% and 0.237%, respectively, with non-linear effects showing positive contributions (e.g. 0.014% for internet use squared). However, the interaction between internet use and renewable energy reduces productivity by 0.033%, and mobile use with renewable energy reduces it by 0.021%. Conversely, the interaction of renewable energy with agricultural land boosts productivity by 0.427%. The SGMM results confirm that a 1% increase in internet use and renewable energy increases productivity by 0.003% and 0.001%, respectively, while mobile use has a negative effect of 0.001%. Based on these findings, governments should prioritise rural internet infrastructure to increase productivity, subsidise solar-powered irrigation to capitalise land –renewable energy boost and provide targeted mobile training to mitigate productivity decline. These findings underscore the need for integrated technology and renewable energy policies to increase agricultural productivity.