A systematic review and bibliometric analysis on agribusiness gaps in emerging markets

Despite the numerous opportunities offered by globalisation in most agribusiness sectors of African and Asian economies, the sector is still struggling to capitalise on these opportunities and catch up with the trends in developed and emerging markets. Consequently, the current study systematically examined the gaps in the agribusiness industry in Africa and Asia and their significant effects on its growth in the emerging global market. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, we employed the PRISMA technique in identifying 122 relevant articles from Google Scholar and Scopus databases. The data was analysed using Bibliometric tools such as VOS viewer, R-package Bibliometrix and MS Excel. The results reveal that publications on the evolution of the agribusiness industry and its gaps have increased over the past 15 years, with the majority of the journals expanding their scope to prioritize the economic development of the agriculture sector in both Africa and Asia. Scholars from developing and developed countries observed a high level of intellectual collaboration. Likewise, the investment in agribusiness research projects was also at the middle peak, with less funding from developing countries' governments. Journals on agribusiness are limited, particularly downstream agribusinesses, with only one journal focussing specifically on agribusiness studies in developing countries. Five major gaps characterised the agribusiness sector, including business management and entrepreneurship skills and training gaps, inadequate knowledge and skills of the youth, inadequate skills and knowledge among females in agribusiness, and technology and innovation gaps. Barriers and challenges such as poor governance and institutional reforms, social and cultural norms, poor market systems, and inadequate flow of information within the agribusiness industry were also identified as gaps. The findings suggest that governments of developing economies should commit funds to agribusiness projects and research projects tailored to solve developing countries' issues to spark the necessary gains from the agribusiness sector.