Year: 2026
Type: book
Abstract: Farming has continued to be one of the pillars of economic growth, food security, and livelihood particularly in the emerging and developing economies. Nonetheless, the industry is experiencing a spell of high stress. There is an interaction effect resulting in increased uncertainty to farmers and agribusiness because of the climate variability and extremes, natural resource degradation, market volatility, and changing policy and trade environments. Such dislocations no longer remain on the farm gate. They have a growing influence on the ability to pay credit, the sustainability of insurance, and making investment choices, and the stability of financial institutions, serving the rural economy. This fact reveals one of the main shortcomings of most current practices: agriculture, finance, and sustainability are discussed as the areas and not a collective system. That gap is bridged by the edited volume with the involvement of multidisciplinary input which studies the changing agriculture-finance-sustainability nexus. The chapters are a synthesis of views of agriculture economics, finance, development, sustainability research, digital innovation, and governance. Together, they demonstrate why it is not possible to have sustainable agriculture without a strong financial architecture and why financial stability is becoming more reliant on climate-resilient and sustainability-consistent agricultural structures. One of the leitmotifs of the volume is the transmission of risks: climate-based shocks and production volatility may turn into credit stress, slowdown recovery, and systemic weakness. Instruments that can minimize exposure and enhance resilience are also paid special attention in the book. Another line of chapters examines agricultural insurance and credit risk modelling, with particular emphasis on the way climate information and index-based mechanisms can enhance the levels of transparency and speed of intervention, as well as considering design issues like basis risk are compromising of trust and performance when compensation is not equal to actual field loss. The other stream concentrates on the economic rationale of sustainability transitions. Many sustainable agribusiness practices lead to necessary investment in the meantime and institutional commitment, but it may actually better the variability in the long-run and make agribusiness more resilient. The volume shows a greater association of sustainability with main financial performance, cost base, exposure to risks, profitability profile, and creditworthy than regarding sustainability solely as an ethical or legal issue. The book additionally discusses the fact that Agri-FinTech and digital ecosystems are surging and transforming rural finance. Digital public infrastructure, interoperable data systems and platform-based models of delivery can reduce the cost of a transaction, increase coverage, and enhance targeting of credit and insurance. Meanwhile, the chapters acknowledge that digitalization is raising new policy issues, namely, data governance, interoperability, affordability, last-mile connectedness, and farmer literacy, which needs to be considered so that the digital divide does not continue to reproduce the old inequalities in fresh forms. Another closely related body of work covers the topic of Agriculture 4.0 and smart farming adoption where it is stated that the results of technological implementation are determined by local conditions. Where the developed world tends to utilize economies of scale under capital-intensive and precision systems, smallholder-dominated nations have varied challenges and opportunities, which demand low-cost, inclusive, and institutionally sponsored opportunities. Through adoption lenses which construct links between technology, organizational capacity and the wider environment, the book determines what facilitates uptake- and what prevents it- in practice. Besides in farms and financial products, the volume broadens the focus to the form of agricultural markets. Chapters on value chains and MSMEs indicate that value chain performance is also influenced by the fact that production is not the only factor that affects value chain performance, but rather by the aggregate, logistics, standards, processing, market access, and availability of finance among other factors along the chain. Value chain strengthening can increase incomes and decrease losses of farmers, however, it is necessary to coordinate interventions not single schemes but comprehensive ones, including financial, institutional, and technological. Lastly, the book acknowledges the fact that sustainable development requires a harmonizing of governance and policy. Incentives and outcomes all over the system are determined by ownership structures, corporate governance in the agro-firms, and the point of direction of the public expenditure. Only supported by credible institutions, effective regulation, and investments by governments in a way that puts more emphasis on productivity-enhancing public goods and inclusions can financial innovations be expanded so as to strengthen resilience. This book targets a wide range of readers: researchers and postgraduates who need to find combined principles; policymakers that need to create agricultural and financial solutions that can withstand climate change; practitioners in the spheres of banking, insurance, and technological finance; and people employed in agribusiness and value chains as well as technology platforms. We want to get the gap between conceptualization and practical evidence and policy relevance- providing a consistent perspective of how finance, technology, governance, and sustainability can be mutually defining in the creation of resilient agricultural futures. We also hope the book leads readers beyond siloed solutions into the realm of system thinking in which climate adaptation, financial inclusion, productivity growth and environmental stewardship are all addressed in a concerted effort through a co-ordinated design. The rest of the restraints is upon us, and we can embrace further academic work and practitioner consultation to make this developing discipline robust.
Authors: Ashutosh Parhi, Anupriya Panda
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7126399313