The economic impact of new technologies on small rice farms in Iloilo, Philippines : a case study of two farmers at Cordova Norte

Date

1979

Authors

Delfin, Dulce Reyes

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Abstract

Because Philippine agriculture has been characterised by the dominance of small farms mostly less than four hectares in size, it was felt that new technology is a useful approach to improve the productive capacity of such farms. Thereby, this study aims to measure the economic benefits of new technologies developed for rice farmers in a range of practical situations. A case study approach was used .in exploring the situation of two sample farmers from the village of Cordova Norte in the province of Iloilo. Whole farm analysis was employed so that the farm is looked at as a whole entity with a set of resource supplies interrelated with the various activities of the farmer. This was demonstrated by using a linear programming (LP) technique which specified the combination of alternatives that will generate the optimal plan subject to specified resource situations. The impact of the introduction of new technologies (NTs) was assessed by comparing the "historical" situation which employs only historical technologies and the "new" situation where appropriate new technologies, available in the area were included in the farmers' options. These NTs include methods of rice crop establishment such as transplanting (TPR) , wet-seeding (WSR) , and dry-seeding (DSR) ; as well as new rice varieties such as IR36 and improved upland varieties such as corn DMR2. The results suggest that complementarities exist between different technologies. NTs generate a higher surplus to the farmer although the improvement differs in the different types of farms. As the marginal value product (MVP) indicates the scarcity of resources, the introduction of NTs program in the agricultural sector must start with the individual farm as the basic planning unit.

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Thesis (Masters)

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