The relationship between government expenditure on agriculture and agriculture production

Abstract

Purpose The impact of government expenditure on economic performance has been a topic of discussion at both the sectoral and aggregate national levels. Despite its theoretical importance, evidence from literature indicates that this relationship has not been universally accepted across different countries and sectors. Given the significance of agriculture in African economies, particularly in Ghana, and the role of government in this sector, this study examines the impact of government expenditure on agricultural productivity in Ghana from 2000Q1 to 2022Q4. Design/methodology/approach Specification of the model was done based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration bound test approach. Findings The results revealed that the studied variables cointegrated in the long run. Government expenditure was found to induce agriculture production both for the long run and short run within the period of the study, implying that government expenditure matters in inducing agriculture productivity in Ghana. Originality/value The study employed the ARDL methodology to investigate government expenditure and agriculture production contagion in Ghana, which has been specifically overlooked by previous studies. It is suggested that the Government of Ghana as well as others in similar environment should increase investment into the agriculture to boost the productivity of the sector.