[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v10y2021i10p1023-d646807.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset

Author

Listed:
  • Nawab Khan

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611100, China)

  • Ram L. Ray

    (College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

  • Hazem S. Kassem

    (Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Society, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia)

  • Muhammad Ihtisham

    (College of Horticulture and Forestry, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
    College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Abdullah

    (Department of Economics and Agricultural Economics, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan)

  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

  • Stephen Ansah

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611100, China)

  • Shemei Zhang

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611100, China)

Abstract
Increasing agricultural production and optimizing inorganic fertilizer (IF) use are imperative for agricultural and environmental sustainability. Mobile phone usage (MPU) has the potential to reduce IF application while ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability goals. The main objectives of this study were to assess MPU, mobile phone promotion policy, and whether the mediation role of human capital can help reduce IF use. This study used baseline regression analysis and propensity score matching, difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) to assess the impact of MPU on IF usage. However, the two-stage instrumental variables method (IVM) was used to study the effects of mobile phone promotion policy on IF usage. This study used a national dataset from 7987 rural households in Afghanistan to investigate the impacts of MPU and associated promotion policies on IF application. The baseline regression outcomes showed that the MPU significantly reduced IF usage. The evaluation mechanism revealed that mobile phones help reduce IF application by improving the human capital of farmers. Besides, evidence from the DID technique showed that mobile phone promotion policies lowered IF application. These results remained robust after applying the PSM-DID method and two-stage IVM to control endogenous decisions of rural households. This study results imply that enhancing the accessibility of wideband in remote areas, promoting MPU, and increasing investment in information communication technologies (ICTs) infrastructure can help decrease the IF application in agriculture. Thus, the government should invest in remote areas to facilitate access to ICTs, such as having a telephone and access to a cellular and internet network to provide an environment and facility to apply IF effectively. Further, particular policy support must focus on how vulnerable populations access the internet and mobile phone technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Nawab Khan & Ram L. Ray & Hazem S. Kassem & Muhammad Ihtisham & Abdullah & Simplice A. Asongu & Stephen Ansah & Shemei Zhang, 2021. "Toward Cleaner Production: Can Mobile Phone Technology Help Reduce Inorganic Fertilizer Application? Evidence Using a National Level Dataset," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1023-:d:646807
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1023/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1023/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    2. Haruna Sekabira & Matin Qaim, 2017. "Mobile money, agricultural marketing, and off-farm income in Uganda," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(5), pages 597-611, September.
    3. Jianyun Hou & Xuexi Huo & Runsheng Yin, 2018. "Does computer usage change farmers’ production and consumption? Evidence from China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 387-410, September.
    4. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2005. "Measuring Capital and Technology: An Expanded Framework," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 11-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Tang, Kai & Hailu, Atakelty, 2020. "Smallholder farms’ adaptation to the impacts of climate change: Evidence from China’s Loess Plateau," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Case, S.D.C. & Oelofse, M. & Hou, Y. & Oenema, O. & Jensen, L.S., 2017. "Farmer perceptions and use of organic waste products as fertilisers – A survey study of potential benefits and barriers," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 84-95.
    7. Pokrivcak, J. & Michalek, J. & Ciaian, P., 2018. "The impact of producer organisations on farm performance: A case study of large farms in Slovakia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277485, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Heidi Kaila & Finn Tarp, 2019. "Can the Internet improve agricultural production? Evidence from Viet Nam," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(6), pages 675-691, November.
    9. Wu, Jianxin & Ma, Chunbo & Tang, Kai, 2019. "The static and dynamic heterogeneity and determinants of marginal abatement cost of CO2 emissions in Chinese cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 685-694.
    10. Carol Corrado & John Haltiwanger & Daniel Sichel, 2005. "Introduction to "Measuring Capital in the New Economy"," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 1-10, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Xiang, Tao & Malik, Tariq H. & Nielsen, Klaus, 2020. "The impact of population pressure on global fertiliser use intensity, 1970–2011: An analysis of policy-induced mediation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    12. Nigel Poole & Chona Echavez & Dominic Rowland, 2018. "Are agriculture and nutrition policies and practice coherent? Stakeholder evidence from Afghanistan," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1577-1601, December.
    13. Tesfaye, Abonesh & Hansen, James & Kassie, Girma Tesfahun & Radeny, Maren & Solomon, Dawit, 2019. "Estimating the economic value of climate services for strengthening resilience of smallholder farmers to climate risks in Ethiopia: A choice experiment approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 157-168.
    14. Michalek, Jerzy & Ciaian, Pavel & Pokrivcak, Jan, 2018. "The impact of producer organizations on farm performance: The case study of large farms from Slovakia☆," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 80-92.
    15. Shi, Beibei & Feng, Chen & Qiu, Meng & Ekeland, Anders, 2018. "Innovation suppression and migration effect: The unintentional consequences of environmental regulation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-23.
    16. Tang, Kai & Hailu, Atakelty & Kragt, Marit E. & Ma, Chunbo, 2018. "The response of broadacre mixed crop-livestock farmers to agricultural greenhouse gas abatement incentives," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 11-20.
    17. Md. Abdul Alim & M. Anowar Hossain, 2018. "Nutrition promotion and collective vegetable gardening by adolescent girls: feasibility assessment from a pilot in Afghanistan," Asian Journal of Agriculture and rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(1), pages 40-49, January.
    18. K. M. Atikur Rahman & Dunfu Zhang, 2018. "Effects of Fertilizer Broadcasting on the Excessive Use of Inorganic Fertilizers and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Rahmatullah Hashimi & Eri Matsuura & Masakazu Komatsuzaki, 2020. "Effects of Cultivating Rice and Wheat with and without Organic Fertilizer Application on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Soil Quality in Khost, Afghanistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    20. Kai Tang & Chuantian He & Chunbo Ma & Dong Wang, 2019. "Does carbon farming provide a cost‐effective option to mitigate GHG emissions? Evidence from China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(3), pages 575-592, July.
    21. Qin Fan & Vania B. Salas Garcia, 2018. "Information Access and Smallholder Farmers’ Market Participation in Peru," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 476-494, June.
    22. Carol Corrado & John Haltiwanger & Daniel Sichel, 2005. "Measuring Capital in the New Economy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number corr05-1.
    23. Yang, Yu & Wu, Feng & Zhang, Qian & Hong, Jiayu & Dong, Congcong, 2020. "Is It Sustainable to Implement a Regional Payment for Ecosystem Service Programme for 10 Years? An Empirical Analysis From the Perspective of Household Livelihoods," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    24. Huang, Jikun & Huang, Zhurong & Jia, Xiangping & Hu, Ruifa & Xiang, Cheng, 2015. "Long-term reduction of nitrogen fertilizer use through knowledge training in rice production in China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 105-111.
    25. Deng, Xin & Xu, Dingde & Zeng, Miao & Qi, Yanbin, 2019. "Does Internet use help reduce rural cropland abandonment? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    26. Wanglin Ma & Peng Nie & Pei Zhang & Alan Renwick, 2020. "Impact of Internet use on economic well‐being of rural households: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 503-523, May.
    27. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan & Li, Xiaoshun, 2020. "Factors affecting farmland rental in rural China: Evidence of capitalization of grain subsidy payments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    28. Haile, Mekbib G. & Wossen, Tesfamicheal & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2019. "Access to information, price expectations and welfare: The role of mobile phone adoption in Ethiopia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 82-92.
    29. Salahuddin, Mohammad & Alam, Khorshed & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2016. "The effects of Internet usage and economic growth on CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A panel investigation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1226-1235.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaojing Li & Yanhua Li & Zhe Chen, 2024. "Impact of Rural E-Commerce Participation on Farmers’ Household Development Resilience: Evidence from 1229 Farmers in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Nawab Khan & Ram L. Ray & Hazem S. Kassem & Muhammad Ihtisham & Badar Naseem Siddiqui & Shemei Zhang, 2022. "Can Cooperative Supports and Adoption of Improved Technologies Help Increase Agricultural Income? Evidence from a Recent Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Cuiping He & Huicheng Hao & Yanhui Su & Jiaxuan Yang, 2024. "A Study on Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of E-Commerce for Agricultural Products: A Case Study of Wuchang City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Qianhui Ma & Shaofeng Zheng & Peng Deng, 2022. "Impact of Internet Use on Farmers’ Organic Fertilizer Application Behavior under the Climate Change Context: The Role of Social Network," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Xinhui Peng & Xiaohuan Yan & Hongmei Wang, 2024. "Study on the Effect of Digital Technology Adoption and Farmers’ Cognition on Fertilizer Reduction and Efficiency Improvement Behavior," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Shemei Zhang & Jiliang Ma & Liu Zhang & Zhanli Sun & Zhijun Zhao & Nawab Khan, 2022. "Does Adoption of Honeybee Pollination Promote the Economic Value of Kiwifruit Farmers? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Nawab Khan & Ram L. Ray & Hazem S. Kassem & Farhat Ullah Khan & Muhammad Ihtisham & Shemei Zhang, 2022. "Does the Adoption of Mobile Internet Technology Promote Wheat Productivity? Evidence from Rural Farmers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Nawab Khan & Ram L. Ray & Hazem S. Kassem & Sajjad Hussain & Shemei Zhang & Muhammad Khayyam & Muhammad Ihtisham & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Potential Role of Technology Innovation in Transformation of Sustainable Food Systems: A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zheng, Hongyun & Ma, Wanglin & Wang, Fang & Li, Gucheng, 2021. "Does internet use improve technical efficiency of banana production in China? Evidence from a selectivity-corrected analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    2. Anmol Bhandari & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2017. "Sweat Equity in U.S. Private Business," Staff Report 560, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    3. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2010. "Unmeasured Investment and the Puzzling US Boom in the 1990s," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 88-123, October.
    4. Felix Roth, 2022. "Revisiting Intangible Capital and Labor Productivity Growth, 2000–2015: Accounting for the Crisis and Economic Recovery in the EU," Contributions to Economics, in: Intangible Capital and Growth, chapter 0, pages 17-42, Springer.
    5. Jerzy Michalek & Pavel Ciaian & Jan Pokrivcak, 2018. "The impact of producer organisations on farm performance: A case study of large farms in Slovakia," JRC Research Reports JRC108059, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Carol Corrado & Jonathan Haskel & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers, ICT and Productivity Growth," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(4), pages 592-618, August.
    7. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2012. "Productivity Convergence Across Industries and Countries: The Importance of Theory-based Measurement," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Leonard I. Nakamura, 2010. "Intangible Assets And National Income Accounting," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(s1), pages 135-155, June.
    9. Daniel Nepelski & Maciej Sobolewski, 2020. "Estimating investments in General Purpose Technologies. The case of AI Investments in Europe," JRC Research Reports JRC118953, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Nathan Chappell & Adam Jaffe, 2018. "Intangible Investment and Firm Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(4), pages 509-559, June.
    11. Wu, Jianxin & Xu, Hui & Tang, Kai, 2021. "Industrial agglomeration, CO2 emissions and regional development programs: A decomposition analysis based on 286 Chinese cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    12. Ye Li, 2018. "Fragile New Economy: The Rise of Intangible Capital and Financial Instability," 2018 Meeting Papers 1189, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2010. "Technology Capital and the US Current Account," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1493-1522, September.
    14. Hyunchul Lee & Kyungtag Lee & Jong Ha Lee, 2021. "The Various Effects of Technology Trade on the Sustainable Market Value of Firms in OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Luca Marcolin & Mariagrazia Squicciarini, 2018. "Investing in Innovation and Skills: Thriving through Global Value Chains," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 9(1).
    16. Giglio, Stefano & Severo, Tiago, 2012. "Intangible capital, relative asset shortages and bubbles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 303-317.
    17. Roth, Felix & Sen, Ali & Rammer, Christian, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Firm-Level Productivity – Evidence from Germany," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 9, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    18. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2012. "The Labor Productivity Puzzle," Book Chapters, in: Lee E. Ohanian & John B. Taylor & Ian J. Wright (ed.), Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery, chapter 6, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
    19. Xiuying Ma & Fei Jia & Hong Jiang & Xiangyun Xu, 2022. "The Impact of Non-R&D Intangible Capital on TFP Growth: Evidence from Multi-country Industry Level Data," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 2890-2910, December.
    20. Sandro Montresor & Antonio Vezzani, 2016. "Intangible investments and innovation propensity: Evidence from the Innobarometer 2013," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 331-352, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    mobile phone usage; propensity score matching; difference-in-difference; inorganic fertilizer usage; human capital; sustainable development; Afghanistan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1023-:d:646807. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.