AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RICE PRODUCTION IN RAUTAHAT DISTRICT OF NEPAL

Abstract

Study was conducted to analyze the production economics, socioeconomic status, potential and problems of rice in Rautahat district. Total 80 farmers were selected by simple random sampling method. Respondents were categorized into small and large scale based on the average land holding under rice cultivation. Result of socio demographic characters showed that the average household size and area under rice cultivation was 7.3 and 35.44 Katha respectively. Human labor was the major input used along with others viz. seed, tillage, FYM and chemical fertilizer and pesticides, irrigation in both large and small farms. The production per household (kg) and productivity (t/ha) were 4458.965 kg, 3.64t/ha respectively and there was significant difference in production (kg) per household between small scale farms (1811 kg) and large scale farms (7863.4 kg). The total average cost, gross revenue and gross margin per hectare were estimated as NPR.108214.79, NPR.120227.04 and NPR.12012.25 respectively. The average benefit cost ratio was 1.11. Cobb Douglas production function presented the inputs; human labor, tillage, FYM chemical and pesticides and irrigation were found to have positive relationship with income while other cost (mainly transportation cost) was found to have negative relation with the total income. The return to scale value was computed to be 0.96 indicating decreasing return to scale in rice production in Rautahat district. Therefore, the findings suggest that, the production and income can be maximized by efficiently solving problems of quality inputs and others mentioned.