Rice farmers’ technical efficiency under abiotic stresses in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study was an attempt to investigate the economic performance of stress tolerant rice varieties in different abiotic stress prone areas (submergence, drought, and salinity) of Bangladesh. The study used production frontier approach to measure the technical efficiency at the farm level. Benefit-cost analysis revealed that farmers in all stress environments obtained positive margin on cash cost basis and the profit became negative on full cost basis in all environments with exception for submergence. That means rice production was marginally benefited to farmers in all the stress environments. Farm specific technical efficiency of all stress environments indicated that large farmers were comparatively more efficient due to their economic solvency as they could apply adequate amount of inputs in due time with proper doses. Inefficiency model indicated that farm size, farmers ‘education, households’ size, farming experience, extension contact, and main occupation of the farmers, were the important factors causing variations in the efficiency. However, BRRI released stress tolerant rice varieties had significant positive impact on technical efficiency. Plausible policies have been recommended according to the study outcomes.