R&D Expenditure for New Technology in Livestock Farming: Impact on GHG Reduction in Developing Countries

The achievement of the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has increasingly received attention and support from decision makers and research by scholars. The livestock sector has always been one of the major sources of GHG emissions, especially in developing countries that do not have green technologies to improve the management of livestock waste. In order to achieve an absolute reduction in emissions, developed countries have applied a wide range of mitigation options; however, there are few studies from the developing world, although greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries have registered a rapid growth. Therefore, this research aims to assess and understand whether public R&D investments can affect emissions deriving from the livestock sector in developing countries. We made use of the FAOSTAT data (FAO Statistical Databases United Nations) and ASTI data set (Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators), collecting data from 29 Africa countries, in 2014 (latest data available). The data were analyzed by means of a Generalized Propensity Scores (GPS) approach, an increasingly widespread technique that is more robust than regression models, especially in small datasets. Our analysis suggests that the livestock sector in these countries shows an improvement in its relationships with the environment and GHG emission levels when the level of public R&D (Research and Development) investment on agriculture is greater. Therefore, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by investing in research and development can lead to more efficient and sustainable resource management for developing countries.