[1] Genetic conservation: a role for rice farmers

The genetic resources of rice have been well utilized in efforts to solve today’s food problems. Rice land races, collected over several decades, have become ‘parents’ of the high-yielding, pest-resistant and well-adapted varieties which resulted in unprecedented increases in rice yields. The cost of rice to millions of consumers is now approximately half what it was in 1960 because of these gains in productivity.

[2] Better Technology, Better Plots, or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes in Productivity and Risk among Malagasy Rice Farmers

We introduce a method for properly attributing observed productivity and risk changes among new production methods, farmers, and plots by controlling for farmer and plot heterogeneity. Results from Madagascar show that the new system of rice intensification (SRI) is indeed a superior technology. Although about half of the observed productivity gains appear due to farmer characteristics rather than SRI itself, the technology generates the estimated average output gains of more than 84%. The increased estimated yield risk associated with SRI would nonetheless make it unattractive to many farmers within the standard range of relative risk aversion.

[3] Profit efficiency among Bangladeshi rice farmers

Production inefficiency is usually analyzed by its three components—technical, allocative, and scale efficiency. In this study, we provide a direct measure of production efficiency of the Bangladeshi rice farmers using a stochastic profit frontier and inefficiency effects model. The data, which are for 1996, include seven conventional inputs and several other background factors affecting production of modern or high yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice spread across 21 villages in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. The results show that there are high levels of inefficiency in modern rice cultivation. The mean level of profit efficiency is 77% suggesting that an estimated 23% of the profit is lost due to a combination of technical, allocative and scale inefficiency in modern rice production. The efficiency differences are explained largely by infrastructure, soil fertility, experience, extension services, tenancy and share of non-agricultural income.

[4] Analysis of the Factors Influencing Smallholder Rice Farmers’ Access to Credit in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Smallholder rice farmers in the Upper East Region of Ghana lack access to credit and this can hinder adoption of technologies introduced in the region, eventually impacting on productivity of rice which is one of the major cereals cultivated and consumed in Ghana. A total of 140 rice farmers were sampled for the study in Kassena-Nankana district in the Upper East Region using a multi-stage sampling technique. This study employed the probit model to estimate factors that influence rice farmers’ access to credit. The result of the study revealed that rice farmers invested the credit they access from formal and informal sources into non-agricultural activities which are mostly not what the credit was taken for. This implies a diversionary behaviour of farmers from what is expected. Also, majority of the farmers received cash credit below GH¢ 1000. The probit result revealed that age, marital status, membership of farmer based organisation, extension visit, record keeping and farm income were the significant variables that influenced rice farmers’ access to credit. Age and farm income negatively influenced farmers’ access to credit while marital status, member of farmer based organisation, record keeping and extension visit positively influenced farmers’ access to credit. The study recommends that rice farmers should be encouraged and sensitized to use the credit for agricultural activities in order to increase productivity. Extension agents should train rice farmers on record keeping since record keeping was seen to be a key factor that positively influenced farmers to receive credit especially from formal credit sources. Lastly, rice farmers should be encouraged to form groups, given that it also positively influenced farmers’ access to credit.

[5] Determinants of Rice Farmers’ Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Practices in Bangladesh

Currently the technologies which are available in Bangladesh agriculture, integrated pest management (IPM) are one of the most important to them. Reasonably, the objectives of the study were to determine the adoption extent of IPM practices by the rice farmers and to determine the influencing factors of IPM adoption. The study was conducted at Mymensing district. One hundred and sixteen (116) rice farmers were asked about the use of IPM practices and it was found that majority of the farmers (82.3 percent) were under medium to high group in aspect of adoption extent of IPM practices. The factors that significantly influenced farmer’s adoption of IPM were training exposure, experience of IPM practices, extension media contact and knowledge on IPM. Among these variables, training exposure was the most influencing factor. Therefore, it can be suggested that if initiative can be taken by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) along with other relevant organizations to increase training facilities and extension media contact then the adoption extent of IPM practices will be increased. Furthermore, more focus concentrate on the farmers belong to less experience in IPM practices and poor knowledge on IPM is also helpful to increase this environment friendly farming practice.

Reference

[1] Bellon, M.R., Pham, J.L. and Jackson, M.T., 2000. Genetic conservation: a role for rice farmers. In Plant genetic conservation (pp. 263-289). Springer, Dordrecht.

[2] Barrett, C.B., Moser, C.M., McHugh, O.V. and Barison, J., 2004. Better technology, better plots, or better farmers? Identifying changes in productivity and risk among Malagasy rice farmers. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 86(4), pp.869-888.

[3] Rahman, S., 2003. Profit efficiency among Bangladeshi rice farmers. Food policy, 28(5-6), pp.487-503.

[4] Denkyirah, E.K., Adu, D.T., Aziz, A.A., Denkyirah, E.K. and Okoffo, E.D., 2016. Analysis of the factors influencing smallholder rice farmers’ access to credit in the upper east region of Ghana. Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, pp.1-11.

[5] Haque, M.M., Kabir, M.H. and Nishi, N.A., 2016. Determinants of rice farmers’ adoption of integrated pest management practices in Bangladesh. Journal of Experimental Agriculture International, pp.1-6.