Innovation adoptions in agriculture sustain high total factor productivity (TFP) growth and overcome a potential production gap, which is beneficial for food security. Research and development (R&D) innovation adoption in agriculture sector is dependent on producers’ willingness to adopt, knowledge capital spillovers, and financial capacity. This research aims to investigate the impact of R&D innovation adoption and climate factors on agriculture TFP growth in Pakistan. The annual time series data were collected from different sources for the period of 1972–2020. For measuring the agriculture TFP, this study adopted the Cobb Douglas and Translog production functions. To analyze the impact of R&D innovation adoption and climate change on agricultural productivity, the dynamic autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and two-stage least square (TSLS) approaches were applied for regression analysis. The study outcomes highlight that the agricultural innovation adoption has a significantly positive impact on agriculture TFP growth in Pakistan with weak farmers’ absorptive ability. According to the results, agriculture tractors, innovative seed distribution, and fertilizer consumptions make a significantly positive contribution to agriculture TFP growth. Further, rainfall shows a positive and significant impact on agricultural productivity, where a moderate climate is beneficial for agricultural productivity. The estimation results contain policy suggestions for sustainable R&D adoption and agrarians’ absorptive ability. Based on the obtained results, it has been suggested that producers should focus on R&D innovation adoption to attain higher productivity. The government needs to emphasize innovative technology adoption, specifically to implement the extension services to increase farmers’ education, skills based training, and networking among the farmers to enhance their knowledge capital and absorptive ability. The farmers should also focus on the adoption of climate smart agriculture that can be achieved through the proper utilization of rainwater. For this purpose, the government needs to develop small community dams and large-scale dams for better use of rainwater harvesting.

Research and Development (R&D) based economic sustainability is the prime area of concern in endogenous growth framework to solve the problem of production inefficiency for attaining the economic stability. The high Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth can be attained through green technology, reverse engineering, ‘learning by doing’ and artificial intelligence. The foreign and domestic green R&D innovation adoption and its spillovers are relying on producers’ willingness to opt the green financing practices and knowledge capital. The current research aims to address a critical literature gap by exploring the intricate linkages between green R&D spillovers, innovation, and green productivity growth in Pakistan. It investigates the mechanisms through which long-term R&D spillovers foster sustainable green growth, while distinguishing the relative impact of domestic and foreign spillovers on green innovation adoption. Further, the study quantifies the absorptive capacity of Pakistan’s work force and outlines pathways to enhance labor efficiency for advancing sustainable development. The time series data covering the period of 1972 to 2022 is used for the quantitative analysis. The Translog and Cobb Douglas Production Functions are used to measure the TFP growth and Autoregressive Distributive Lagged (ARDL) Model is applied for empirical analysis. The results indicate presence of foreign and domestic R&D innovation spillovers and adoption in Pakistan with poor absorptive ability. Moreover, it is observed that foreign R&D spillovers have an affirmative role in TFP growth as compared to domestic R&D. Based on the empirical findings, government should focus on sustainable policies related to local R&D, R&D spillovers with sufficient and sustainable R&D expenditures, their availability and accessibility of innovation to boost the resource efficacy for higher TFP growth. In the similar vein, the implementation of extension services to educate the laborers for adoption of innovation, innovative technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) to attain sustainable productivity should also be emphasized.

This study adds to the body of literature by investigating the moderating effect of human capital in the association of financial development with macroeconomic volatility in a sample of Asian countries. From 1993 until 2021, annual panel data was collected. For empirical analysis, generalized least squares (GLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) approaches have been estimated using STATA software. The results of the static and dynamic study demonstrate the detrimental direct as well as indirect effect of financial sector development on macroeconomic volatility via the human capital channel. Macroeconomic volatility is increased by trade openness and inflation, but remittances have a mixed effect. In order to benefit from financial development in terms of reducing macroeconomic instability, human capital is important. In the context of financial development, this study supports the literature's suggestions for fostering the development of human capital to promote sustainable economic growth.

Purpose ― This study examines the externalities of CO2 emissions from solid fuel consumption on rice production in Pakistan using time series data from 1984 to 2021. Methods ― The independent variables include CO2 emissions from solid fuel consumption, cultivated area, agricultural equipment, tube wells, and improved seed, whereas the dependent variable is rice production. A robust analysis was done by altering the solid fuel CO2 emissions proxy. The empirical study used the vector error correction model and Johansen's cointegration test.Findings ― Solid fuel CO2 emissions negatively and significantly impact rice production, implying that solid fuel CO2 emissions decrease rice production. Tube wells have a negative and significant influence on rice production. Conversely, cropped land, agricultural machinery, and improved seeds boosted rice production. The results remained robust even when the proxy for solid fuel CO2 emissions was changed. Implications ― The study recommends developing regulations to limit solid fuel CO2 emissions to prevent environmental degradation and increase rice production. To boost rice production, more land should be farmed, agricultural machinery should be employed, and improved seeds should be used.Originality ― This study is the first to examine the impact of CO2 emissions from solid fuel consumption on rice production in Pakistan