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The asymmetric effects of crops productivity, agricultural land utilization, and fertilizer consumption on carbon emissions: revisiting the carbonization-agricultural activity nexus in Nepal

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Abstract

Agriculture plays an integral part in facilitating socioeconomic development in Nepal. However, it is also associated with environmental concerns which need to be controlled for the sake of ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability in tandem. Against this backdrop, this current study aims to check whether shocks to the levels of agricultural productivity, land utilization for crop production, and fertilizer consumption influence the carbon dioxide emission figures of Nepal over the 1965-2018 period. The long-run associations between these variables are confirmed from the cointegration analysis. Besides, the outcomes from the asymmetric non-linear autoregressive distributed lag regression analysis show that crop productivity does not influence the emission levels in Nepal. However, a decline in the land area used for crop production purposes is evidenced to trigger higher emissions of carbon dioxide both in the short- and long run. On the other hand, higher fertilizer consumption is found to boost the short- and long-run carbon dioxide emission levels in Nepal. Accordingly, considering the objective of reducing agriculture-based emissions, this study recommends the Nepalese government to adopt policies that can enhance the productivity of low energy-intensive crop production, stimulate green agriculture and non-agriculture activities, and minimize the use of chemical fertilizers in arable lands.

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Notes

  1. Since we are more interested in the possible asymmetrical impacts, the outcomes from the ARDL analysis are not reported but can be made available upon request.

  2. In the NARDL analysis, the negative (positive) sign of the predicted parameter associated with negative shock to an explanatory variable should be interpreted as its positive (negative) effect on the outcome variable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Economics and Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Abdul Rehman & Hengyun Ma

  2. Management Studies Department, Bahria Business School, Bahria University Islamabad, Islamabad, 440000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Kamran Khan

  3. College of International Cooperation, Xi’an International University, 18 Yu Dou Lu, Yanta District, Xi’an, 710077, Shaanxi, China

    Sufyan Ullah Khan

  4. School of Business and Economics, North South University, Dhaka, 1229, Bangladesh

    Muntasir Murshed

  5. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Muntasir Murshed

  6. School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Fayyaz Ahmad

  7. Department of Finance, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 173, Alkharj, 11942, Saudi Arabia

    Haider Mahmood

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  1. Abdul Rehman
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  2. Hengyun Ma
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  3. Muhammad Kamran Khan
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Contributions

Abdul Rehman and Muntasir Murshed: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, formal analysis, visualization; writing the original draft; Hengyun Ma, Muhammad Kamran Khan, and Sufyan Ullah Khan: investigation, formal analysis, visualization, review and editing; Haider Mahmood and Fayyaz Ahmad: review, editing, and made suggestions to improve the quality of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Abdul Rehman or Muntasir Murshed.

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Rehman, A., Ma, H., Khan, M.K. et al. The asymmetric effects of crops productivity, agricultural land utilization, and fertilizer consumption on carbon emissions: revisiting the carbonization-agricultural activity nexus in Nepal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 39827–39837 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18994-6

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