Untitled - CGIAR Impact

16 ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF NEW RICE TECHNOLOGY
Table 8. Economics of a multifactor experiment in irrigated fields, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, 1972
dry season.
Treatment
no.
Increases over farmers’ treatments
Expected
Cash
Expected
net returns
costs
net returns
Yield
per US$
(US$/ha) (US$/ha) (t/ha)
cash cost
1 (farmers‘)
2
3
4
–
7
15
21
– 3.9
44
0.5
42
0.6
64
1.2
–
6.5
2.9
3.0
Table 9. Economics of a management-package trial in irrigated fields, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines,
1972 wet season.
Treatment
no.
1 (farmers’)
2
3
Increase over the farmers’ treatments
Cash
costs
(US$/ha)
–
7
23
Expected
net returns
(US$/ha)
–
61
83
Yield
(t/ha)
3.2
0.7
1.3
Expected
net returns
per US$
cash cost
–
9.0
3.6
A related dry-season experiment had combinations of N, P 2 O 5 , and weed
control (Table 8). There was no zero cash input level because farmers’ treatments
using N and weeding were taken as the standard for comparison. The
best treatment yielded 1.2 t/ha more than the lowest yielding treatment. The
highest yielding treatment gave the best returns, but it was not much more
profitable than the somewhat lower input treatments. Treatment 2 gave net
returns of $6.5/$ cash cost; treatment 4 gave $3/$.
In a simple 1972 trial comparing two improved management packages with
farmers’ treatments, the highest yielding package consisted of additional fertilizer
and 2,4-D weed control that cost $23 more than the farmers’ treatment
(Table 9). It increased net returns by $83/ha. The lower cost input package
was two-thirds as profitable, but it cost only one-third as much as the high
cost package and gave a rate of return nearly three times greater.
All the preceding experiments depended exclusively on farmers’ pest control
techniques. Inefficient pest control was one reason for the relatively low yields.
Two trials with high levels of insect control as treatments, in addition to fertilizer
and weed control, were also examined. In a 1972 rainfed trial of five management
packages, yield increases over the lowest input package ranged from
0.6 to 1.2 t/ha (Table 10). The maximum yield treatment cost $57/ha more
than the control and gave net returns of $14/ha more. Maximum profit, however,
was recorded with treatment 2, which cost $14/ha more than the control
and had $19/ha greater net returns than the control. It had the highest rate of
return as well.