Climate Change and Food Security: Panel Data Evidence from D-8 Countries

Abstract

Climate change is one of the main risks for food security, especially in the developing economies where agricultural practices rely on the weather. This study investigates the impact of climate change on food security in the D-8 countries, taking into account the influence of agricultural credit while considering population growth and agricultural land area. The Food Production Index (FPI) is used as a proxy for food security, and annual precipitation and average temperature as indicators of climate change. Based on annual panel data set for the period 1990 -2024, this study uses the fixed effects estimator as the primary estimation approach; however, the random effects method is also employed for assessing the robustness of empirical results. It is found that precipitation and temperature exert a positive and significant influence on food production..  The population exhibits a negative and significant effect on food production. Agricultural land has a positive impact on food production. The robustness analysis using the random effects shows that the impacts of explanatory variables remain robust in general. The research suggests that there should be an increase in agricultural credit, adoption of climate-smart agricultural techniques, improvement of water resource management, land protection for agriculture, and regional collaboration within the D-8 countries.