TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF BORO RICE CULTIVATION IN JAMALPUR DISTRICT

Abstract

Bangladesh is the country with distinct agricultural setting. It is the most populous country in the world with 163.7 million populations and population density of 1103 person per square kilometer. Boro rice production plays an important role in achieving food security of Bangladesh. Due to high population growth rate, food security has become a burning issue in Bangladesh economy where 21.8 percent people lived under poverty level. Efficiency of Boro rice producer is an important factor because of rice is the staple food in Bangladesh. Annual consumption of rice is 134.02 kg. per capita in Bangladesh. This study attempted to examine the profitability and technical efficiency level of Boro rice farmers and inefficiency factors which affects production. One hundred and twenty (120) Boro rice farmers has been selected through simple random sampling procedure from three villages under Jamalpur Sadar upazila of Jamalpur district which comprising of 40 farmers from each village. The study has employed Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function to estimate technical efficiency for Boro rice cultivation. Result reveals that per hectare total cost of production was Tk. 114931.68 per hectare. Gross returns was Tk. 120600.43 and net returns was Tk. 5668.75. Per hectare yields of Boro rice was found 6940 kg. Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was found 1.05 which implied that one taka investment in Boro rice production generated Tk. 1.05. The mean technical efficiency of the Boro rice was 87 percent. Human labour, seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, irrigation and power tiller (for land preparation) were important factors for production of Boro rice. Education, experience, farm size and training has expected negative sign which can reduce the farmer’s inefficiency in the study area. The study also identified some problems faced by the Boro rice growers and suggested some recommendations to improve the present Boro rice production.