Author(s): Kunofiwa Tsaurai
The study investigated the impact of agricultural production on economic growth in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries using the dynamic generalized methods of moments (GMM) approach with panel data ranging from 1996 to 2018. The study also explored if financial development is a channel through agricultural production enhanced economic growth in BRICS countries. Consistent with majority of literature on the subject matter, agricultural production was found to have had a significant positive impact on economic growth in BRICS countries regardless of the measure of financial development used. The results also show that the complementarity between agricultural production and financial development had a significant positive influence on BRICS’ economic growth or enhanced economic growth in BRICS countries. In other words, the study confirmed that financial development is a channel through which agricultural production enhanced economic growth in BRICS. These results are backed by Okunlola et al (2019) whose study argued that the provision of loans and other financial products towards the agricultural sector facilitate agriculture’s role as a major towards economic growth in developing countries. BRICS nations are therefore urged to ensure there is effective implementation of policies geared towards enhancing agricultural production and financial development in order to boost their country’s economic growth.