Sustainable Green Growth in Agriculture: The Role of Regional Cooperation

Abstract

Due to the continuous need to attain food security for the growing population, resource exploitation in the agriculture sector is evident. Hence, both production growth and sustainability have become key policy dilemmas. This paper examines the prospective roles of regional cooperation in attaining sustainable green growth in the agricultural production process. To formulate the Green Growth Index for Agriculture (GGIA), 16 South-through-East Asian countries were considered. The result implies that if the countries could work under a regional cooperation bloc, on average, they can exploit the untapped potential production of 33.8% without deploying any additional resources. Analysis for emission-management reveals that if the countries could work under a regional cooperation bloc, on average, its agriculture emission-management efficiency would be 45%. According to the GGIA, China, Japan, and South Korea have the highest overall efficiency, while Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand have the lowest in this region. Show more