Sustainable Agricultural Finance: Bibliometric Insights into Current Research and Emerging Themes

Sustainable agricultural finance (SAF) has undergone significant evolution, reflecting the growing importance of sustainable farming practices and the need for financial mechanisms to support these initiatives. Since its inception, a comprehensive literature review has been lacking, hindering the creation of an in-depth understanding of the topic, including theoretical developments, existing trends, and identifying underexplored areas for future inquiry. Therefore, the current study conducted a bibliometric analysis to present a structured overview of SAF, mapping its intellectual structure and thematic evolution. Data were collected from the Scopus database from 1994 to 2023. The study identifies three distinct developmental phases: an early fragmented period, a consolidation phase, and recent shifts toward interdisciplinary and climate-resilient finance. The analysis highlights recurring themes, including microfinance, green lending, stakeholder engagement, and risk mitigation. It also reveals underexplored areas, such as Islamic green finance, climate risk tools, and sustainability performance metrics. The study provides a structured understanding of the SAF knowledge base by synthesizing theoretical frameworks, including institutional theory, finance theory, and stakeholder theory. It contributes to future research planning and helps inform the development of financial systems tailored to sustainable agriculture.