Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal

The improved food security in Asia that has facilitated the region’s development progress depends on nitrogenous fertilizers. Rising prices and shortages of imported fertilizer have prompted countries to explore alternative sources of crop nitrogen, including diversification with legumes. We evaluat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: NARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL, DYUTIMAN CHOUDHARY, GANESH THAPA
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: World Scientific Publishing 2025-03-01
Series:Asian Development Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110525500015
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849735767579951104
author NARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL
DYUTIMAN CHOUDHARY
GANESH THAPA
author_facet NARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL
DYUTIMAN CHOUDHARY
GANESH THAPA
author_sort NARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL
collection DOAJ
description The improved food security in Asia that has facilitated the region’s development progress depends on nitrogenous fertilizers. Rising prices and shortages of imported fertilizer have prompted countries to explore alternative sources of crop nitrogen, including diversification with legumes. We evaluate an intervention in Nepal that promoted mungbean adoption. Our doubly robust impact evaluation approach accounts for nonrandom patterns of adoption related to livestock rearing, participation in agricultural cooperatives and training, and greater irrigated land use. Adopters growing mungbean for the 2-year study period showed an average increase of 20 kilograms (kg) in their annual consumption of mungbean-based foods, applied almost 40[Formula: see text]kg per hectare (ha) less fertilizers to their rice crops, and obtained an additional 280[Formula: see text]kg in rice yield per ha. Hence, agricultural innovations that use legumes such as mungbean can help promote sustainable intensification of cereal-based production systems, while enhancing food security and reducing balance-of-payments issues for the countries dependent on fertilizer imports.
format Article
id doaj-art-c7c79d9df6124c0eaa820e5d4319e686
institution DOAJ
issn 0116-1105
1996-7241
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher World Scientific Publishing
record_format Article
series Asian Development Review
spelling doaj-art-c7c79d9df6124c0eaa820e5d4319e6862025-08-20T03:07:27ZengWorld Scientific PublishingAsian Development Review0116-11051996-72412025-03-01420117920710.1142/S0116110525500015Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in NepalNARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL0DYUTIMAN CHOUDHARY1GANESH THAPA2International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kathmandu, NepalInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kathmandu, NepalWisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI, United StatesThe improved food security in Asia that has facilitated the region’s development progress depends on nitrogenous fertilizers. Rising prices and shortages of imported fertilizer have prompted countries to explore alternative sources of crop nitrogen, including diversification with legumes. We evaluate an intervention in Nepal that promoted mungbean adoption. Our doubly robust impact evaluation approach accounts for nonrandom patterns of adoption related to livestock rearing, participation in agricultural cooperatives and training, and greater irrigated land use. Adopters growing mungbean for the 2-year study period showed an average increase of 20 kilograms (kg) in their annual consumption of mungbean-based foods, applied almost 40[Formula: see text]kg per hectare (ha) less fertilizers to their rice crops, and obtained an additional 280[Formula: see text]kg in rice yield per ha. Hence, agricultural innovations that use legumes such as mungbean can help promote sustainable intensification of cereal-based production systems, while enhancing food security and reducing balance-of-payments issues for the countries dependent on fertilizer imports.https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110525500015adoptionfood securitymungbeanricesoil fertility
spellingShingle NARAYAN PRASAD KHANAL
DYUTIMAN CHOUDHARY
GANESH THAPA
Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
Asian Development Review
adoption
food security
mungbean
rice
soil fertility
title Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
title_full Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
title_fullStr Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
title_short Enhancing Food Security in an Era of Rising Fertilizer Prices: Evaluation of an Intervention Promoting Mungbean Adoption in Nepal
title_sort enhancing food security in an era of rising fertilizer prices evaluation of an intervention promoting mungbean adoption in nepal
topic adoption
food security
mungbean
rice
soil fertility
url https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110525500015
work_keys_str_mv AT narayanprasadkhanal enhancingfoodsecurityinaneraofrisingfertilizerpricesevaluationofaninterventionpromotingmungbeanadoptioninnepal
AT dyutimanchoudhary enhancingfoodsecurityinaneraofrisingfertilizerpricesevaluationofaninterventionpromotingmungbeanadoptioninnepal
AT ganeshthapa enhancingfoodsecurityinaneraofrisingfertilizerpricesevaluationofaninterventionpromotingmungbeanadoptioninnepal