Technological Change in Paddy Production: A Comparative Analysis of Traditional and SRI Methods of Cultivation

Abstract

The quantitative analysis of agricultural production systems has become an important step in the formulation of agricultural policy. A number of empirical studies have attempted to investigate producer responsiveness to product and input price changes, to estimate economies of scale, to assess the relative efficiency, and to measure the impact of technological change. In particular, there has been a considerable amount of theoretical and applied econometric research on the measurement of the impact of technological change. As knowledge of new and more efficient methods of production (cultivation in agriculture) becomes available, technology changes (Koutsoyiannis, 1983). The adoption of new or improved method of production/cultivation can shift the production function. In other words, production can be increased with new technology by using same quantities of resources that were used in old technology or alternatively, the production level in old technology can be attained with new technology by using fewer quantities of inputs. The recent breakthrough in rice cultivation known as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method is one such case which may be considered as disembodied technology. The disembodied type of technical change is mainly due to improved management methods (Sankhayan, 1988). A few studies have treated SRI method as a new technology (Ratna Reddy et al., 2005). Father Henri de Laulanie developed SRI in Madagascar in the early 1980s. In 1990, Association Tefy Saina (ATS) was formed as a Malagassy NGO to promote SRI. Four years later, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) began co-operating with Tefy Saina to introduce SRI around the Ranomafana National Park in eastern Madagascar supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). It has since been tested in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with promising results. In SRI method, synergic interaction increases land, labour and water use efficiency. SRI method deviates from the traditional method of cultivating irrigated paddy in a