Unpacking the impact of mung beans on farmers’ income and food security in Ethiopia

Mung beans are known for offering a beacon of hope in the fight to eradicate food insecurity, especially for countries like Ethiopia with a rising population and economy. It has been introduced to Ethiopian agriculture in recent years. By using East Belessa district in Ethiopia as an example, this study aims to analyze the impact of households’ participation in mung bean cropping on their income and food security in East Belessa district, Amhara, Ethiopia. To this end, we collected data from 384 households from both mung bean producers and non-producers in the area. We employed a logit regression model and Propensity Score Matching for comparing the changes in two groups, i.e., their income and food consumption score. Our findings revealed that age, marital status, education level of the household, farm size, access to credit, and access to agricultural extension are the significant covariates in the model. Our estimation indicates that participating in mung bean cultivation substantially increased participant households’ annual income by $323, as compared to non-participants’. Despite the change in income, the food security contribution has been insignificant. Based on the findings, we provide insights about the urgent need for change in agricultural extension services and export markets in sustainable mung production in the area and beyond to improve the welfare of mung bean farmers.