Impact of energy consumption and agricultural production on carbon emission: Evidence in Nigeria

Abstract

Agricultural activities contributed significantly to carbon emissions and global warming, which in consequence jeopardize efforts to  sustainable food production. This study therefore examined the impact of energy consumption and agricultural production on carbon  emission evidence in Nigeria between 1971 and 2019. The study used secondary data extracted from World Development Indicator (WDI)  and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database from 1971 to 2019. Cointegration and AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average  (ARIMA) models were used to analyze the data. Johansen Cointegration was used to determine long-run relationship among the variables  while ARIMA was used to analyze and build forecasting modeling correlations among the variables. The result shows that all  the variables were stationary at first difference at 1% using Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test to examine the unit root test. The  Johansen Cointegration result shows that there is a long-run relationship between carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission and agricultural  activities. ARIMA result shows that electric power (ECE) and fossil fuels (ECF) which were energy consumption in the model were  statistically significant at 1% and have negative and positive effects on CO² emissions respectively. This implies that 1% increase in  consumption of ECF is capable of increasing CO₂ emission rate by 1.80, while 1% increase in consumption of ECE is capable of reducing of  CO₂ emission rate by -0.29. The cumulative sum control chart (CUSUM) and cumulative sum control chart of the square (CUSUMSQ)  confirmed that the models used in the analysis of the data were accurately employed. The study therefore recommended that renewable  energy such as hydropower, wind, solar and biomass energy should be used as an alternative to fossil fuels; and minimum or zero tillage,  indiscriminate bushes burning, deforestation and encroachment into forest lands reserved for wildlife conservation should be   practiced.