Impact of access to Improved Water Source on Agricultural Labor Productivity: Case Study of Asian Developing Countries

Abstract

Access to improve water source has become a vital element of basic social infrastructure of countries around the world even in Asian developing countries. Accordingly, this study empirically test the influence of access to safe drinking water on agriculture labor productivity for a panel of 19 Asian developing countries. The data set of 12 years (2002-2013) shall be taken from World Development Indicators (WDI) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Using fixed effects with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard errors, agriculture labor productivity positively influenced by access to improved source of water and statistically significant.Variables are taken for this study are agriculture labor productivity, access to safe water source in rural areas, access to better sanitation facilities in rural areas, age dependency ratio, agriculture land, human development index and consumption of fertilizer. The results shall try to draw the attention of the authorities of developing countries towards the issue of insufficient investment in basic social infrastructure i.e. access to improved water source while making development policies, especially in rural areas.