Agricultural Production Factors and Their Effect on Agricultural Production and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from the Greater Mekong Subregion

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of agricultural production on economic output (agricultural production value) and the environment (carbon dioxide emissions) in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. These three countries, all located in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, are similar in terms of climate and agricultural potential, but the agricultural sector plays a different economic role in each of these three countries. While Thailand has had an export-oriented cash crop-based agricultural sector for decades, Cambodia and Vietnam continue to produce predominantly for domestic consumption. These differences have some implications for differences in economic productivity (output) and environmental effects (agricultural carbon emissions).

This study investigates the effect of agricultural inputs, including the use of fertilisers, pesticide, agricultural land, irrigation, and agricultural employment, along with the rural population, GDP growth, exchange rates, and producer price indices, on agricultural output value and emissions using time series AR(1) analysis.

The results show different patterns for Thailand in comparison to Cambodia and Vietnam.

This implies that no single agricultural policy can be used to promote agricultural growth in Mekong Delta countries.