Revisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from Pesticide Use in 12 Agriculture-Oriented Asian Countries

Revisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from Pesticide Use in 12 Agriculture-Oriented Asian Countries | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Revisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from Pesticide Use in 12 Agriculture-Oriented Asian Countries Jayanthi R Alaganthiran1, Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, Merith Ifeoma Anaba This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8717535/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Pesticides have become a lifesaver for millions of smallholder farmers, protecting crops from weeds, snails, and other pests and diseases, which could be a potential factor for an increase in pesticide use. The study addresses a research gap by examining whether the economic growth of agriculture-oriented Asian countries has reduced pesticide use over the decades. Additionally, the study identifies countries in which further economic growth reduces pesticide consumption. The study employed the EKC framework in its methodology to investigate 12 Asian countries that placed significant emphasis on the agricultural sector between 2000 and 2022. The study used panel data to estimate OLS, fixed-effects, random-effects, and the Driscoll-Kraay approaches to establish robust findings despite heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, and other issues. In short, Driscoll-Kraay's method identifies an inverted-U-shaped EKC between economic growth and pesticide use. The coefficient for lnGDP per capita is 2.169 at 5% significance level, and the coefficient for the squared-lnGDP per capita is -0.206 at 1% significance level. Overall, farmers increase their use of pesticides, including herbicides and fungicides, during the early stages of economic growth. Once turning points are reached, farmers reduce pesticide spraying as the economy starts improving. The gender variable for females indicates that female participation in the agriculture sector reduces pesticide use by approximately 0.03 tons annually. However, the study claims that further economic growth, agricultural land expansion, and increased food production will lead to increased pesticide use among farmers in 12 Asian countries. Meanwhile, country-specific estimates indicate a significant inverted-U-shaped EKC for countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This finding suggests that farmers may gradually reduce pesticide use. On the other hand, estimations identify a significant U-shaped EKC for Lao, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. This suggests that farmers might increase pesticide use in the future. Sustainable development in Asian countries' agricultural sectors is essential for expanding agricultural exports to global markets and reducing the harmful and excessive use of pesticides. Asian governments should provide training and incentives for encouraging farmers to adopt integrated pest management and biopesticides. Agricultural Economics & Policy Farmers Pesticide Use EKC Asian Fixed and Random Effects Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8717535","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":581587851,"identity":"5d336dc4-4e4b-4d64-999b-17deae8b8a95","order_by":0,"name":"Jayanthi R Alaganthiran1","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABD0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYwdYAHxDggYfBfDsx9QFBLAlgL4wGLCmZjsJYEgnYlHACRzAcqzjAnQszAo5i5/Yzh58Ifd2SADIMDN9vY0ueHHX4ItMVOTrcBh8N6coylZyQ84wEyDA7ObOPJ3Xg7zQCoJdnY7AAuv+QYSPMkHOYBMQ5LtknkbpydANJyIHEbLi39b4x/g7X0vzE4/LfNIN1wdvoH/Fpm5JhBbJmRY3BA4kxCgrx0DgFbZjwrs+ZJA2l5VnBAouKA4QbpnIIDCQa4/WLYn7z5No/NYXsQ44OEwQF5+dnpmz98qLCTw6mlgcMAlWEAVmmAXTkIyDOwP0BjNOBWPQpGwSgYBSMTAABJI2tUvKsvYgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jayanthi","middleName":"R","lastName":"Alaganthiran1","suffix":""},{"id":581587852,"identity":"9fecc143-15be-4536-840a-8809cdeedd62","order_by":1,"name":"Anwar Hossain Chowdhury","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"2Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM) Dhaka, Bangladesh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anwar","middleName":"Hossain","lastName":"Chowdhury","suffix":""},{"id":581587853,"identity":"a64eaba6-6bf4-4e3d-b39c-c7fdfac6ab1b","order_by":2,"name":"Merith Ifeoma Anaba","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"3Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Science, Veritas University Abuja, Nigeria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Merith","middleName":"Ifeoma","lastName":"Anaba","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-28 07:09:46","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8717535/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8717535/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101395455,"identity":"c27c04ef-c969-4127-bcce-b5bce0ec3c91","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 09:06:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1508842,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EKCResearchPaperFinalDraft1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8717535/v1_covered_5b8ac3c8-c595-4feb-bcfc-93aedd306f84.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRevisiting the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from Pesticide Use in 12 Agriculture-Oriented Asian Countries\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Farmers, Pesticide Use, EKC, Asian, Fixed and Random Effects","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8717535/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8717535/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePesticides have become a lifesaver for millions of smallholder farmers, protecting crops from weeds, snails, and other pests and diseases, which could be a potential factor for an increase in pesticide use. 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