Impact of Agricultural Production on Economic Growth in Zimbabwe

Runganga, Raynold and Mhaka, Simbarashe (2021): Impact of Agricultural Production on Economic Growth in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

African countries are expected to be having a comparative advantage when it comes to agricultural products. If this is true, specializing in agriculture can increase output levels. However, the effect of agriculture on growth has yielded various research interests and the results differ from country to country. In this paper, we try to ascertain the impact of agriculture on economic growth in Zimbabwe using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique, employing data from 1970 to 2018. In both the short run and long run, the study found that inflation, government expenditure, and gross fixed capital formation have a positive impact on economic growth. The study also found that agricultural production has a positive impact on economic growth in the short run, and no impact on economic growth was found in the long run. Thus, the agricultural sector plays an important role in the early stages of economic development, and when the economy has developed, agriculture plays a minimal role. It is evident from the results of this paper that agriculture is an engine for growth in the short run and should eventually be supported by other macroeconomic policies to promote economic growth in the long run.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Agricultural Production, Economic Growth, ARDL.
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C13 - Estimation: General; F - International Economics > F4 - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance > F43 - Economic Growth of Open Economies; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture

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