Flood Tolerant Rice Varieties: A Way Forward for Enhancing Income of Rice Growers of Assam

This study was conducted in Jorhat district of Assam to find the comparative advantage of flood-tolerant rice varieties over normal rice varieties. It was observed that the cost of cultivation flood-tolerant rice varieties was higher than the normal rice varieties due to higher cost of seed and labour. But production of flood-tolerant rice varieties was also higher than the normal rice varieties. Thus, farmers obtained a higher return over cost (return over cost ratio of 1.35) by adopting flood tolerant rice variety than normal rice variety (return over cost ratio of 1.22). The study has suggested that adoption of flood-tolerant rice variety in the flood-affected areas can be a good coping mechanism for farmers to avert the losses of crop damage by flood.