Pakistan’s agricultural sector growth is dwindling from the last several years due to insufficient foreign direct investment (FDI) and a drastic climate change-induced raise in temperature, which are severely affecting agricultural production. The FDI has paramount importance for the economy of developing countries as well as the improvement of agricultural production. Based on the time series data from 1984 to 2017, this paper aims to highlight the present situation of the agriculture sector of Pakistan and empirically analyze the short-run and long-run impact of Chinese foreign direct investment (CFDI), climate change, and CO₂ emissions on agricultural productivity and causality among the variables. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) model and Granger Causality test were employed to find out the long-run, short-run, and causal relationships among the variables of interest. Furthermore, we have employed the Error Correction Model (ECM) to know the convergence of the equilibrium path. The bound test results verified the existence of a long-run association, and the empirical findings confirmed that Chinese FDI has a significant and positive impact, while climate change and CO₂ emissions has negative impact on the agricultural growth of Pakistan both in the short-run and long-run. Granger Causality test results revealed that variables of interest exhibit bi-directional and uni-directional causality. The sector-wise flow of FDI reveals that the agriculture sector of Pakistan has comparatively received a less amount of FDI than other sectors of the economy. Based on the findings, it was suggested to the Government of Pakistan and policymakers to induce more FDI in the agriculture sector. Such policies would be helpful for the progress of the agriculture sector as well as for the economic growth of Pakistan.

Far-reaching changes in the domestic and global markets are crafting big avenues for farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. This study examines the agriculture entrepreneurship and farmers’ performance in the context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). A survey was conducted to collect primary data from three agricultural zones adjacent to the under-construction CPEC in Pakistan. According to the results, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, innovation orientation, and opportunity recognition positively influence agriculture entrepreneurship thereby facilitating timely distribution of food commodities in ensuring food security. Our findings also indicate that uptake of entrepreneurship complements farmers’ marketing, operational and economic performance. These findings do imply that improving farmers’ entrepreneurial skills is the essential element for their improved performance in terms of locating potential markets and timely delivery of primary commodities, such as food items. It suggests that farmers might seek enormous economic opportunities arising from improved infrastructure, output linkages, connectivity and access to global markets through the CPEC. Based on the findings, the study provides implications for policymakers to channelize the potential endeavors for facilitating the farmers’ access to new markets and getting the foremost advantage of Belt and Road Initiative. The study also extends the existing literature on agriculture entrepreneurship-opportunity recognition and access to new markets in a befitting manner.