Digital Agricultural Transformation and Sustainable Development Pathways in ECOWAS: Evidence on Green Economy and Climate Financing

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🔬研究者:Provides robust panel evidence on the link between agricultural technology adoption, climate finance, and green economy outcomes in a developing region.

🏢実務担当者:Offers insights for ag-tech firms and development banks on how digital agriculture can be positioned to attract climate finance.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights that digital agricultural transformation can mobilize climate finance, but environmental benefits require complementary investments in renewable energy and institutions.

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Climate change, environmental degradation, and the need for sustainable agricultural transformation have intensified interest in the role of digital technologies in promoting environmentally sustainable development across developing economies. While existing studies have separately examined agricultural technology adoption, climate finance, and environmental sustainability, limited empirical evidence exists on how agricultural technology adoption influences green economy outcomes and climate finance mobilization within a unified framework, particularly in the ECOWAS region. This study investigates the effect of agricultural technology adoption on green economy performance and climate financing in 15 ECOWAS countries over the period 2010–2023. Agricultural technology adoption is measured using a Digital Agricultural Index (DAI) constructed from internet penetration, ICT adoption, and fertilizer utilization, while green economy performance and climate financing are proxied by CO₂ emissions and climate finance inflows, respectively. Drawing on the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, the study employs Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) as the baseline estimation technique to address heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence, complemented by Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, fixed-effects clustered estimators, and instrumental variable estimations for robustness and endogeneity correction. The findings reveal that agricultural technology adoption significantly increases climate finance inflows, suggesting that digital agricultural transformation enhances institutional readiness, project credibility, and countries’ capacity to attract climate-related investments. In contrast, agricultural technology adoption exhibits a negative but statistically insignificant effect on CO₂ emissions, indicating that although digital agricultural innovations have the potential to support environmental sustainability and green economic transformation, their environmental benefits remain constrained by structural and institutional limitations within the region. The robustness and endogeneity analyses confirm the stability of these results across alternative estimation techniques. The study contributes to the emerging literature on digital agriculture and sustainable development by providing regional evidence that agricultural technology adoption serves as a critical channel for climate finance mobilization, while its environmental impact depends on complementary investments in renewable energy, digital infrastructure, institutional capacity, and climate governance. The study recommends strengthening digital agricultural ecosystems and integrating agricultural innovation policies with climate finance strategies to accelerate green and climate-resilient development across ECOWAS countries.</p>

• Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10083501/v1first seen 2026-07-15 04:36:34