Does the Mechanized Rice Production more Resource Use Efficient than the Conventional Method? - A Case of Telangana State

Traditional transplantation is the widely practiced crop establishment method in rice. The present study attempted to compare the resource use efficiency (RUE) among various crop establishment techniques in rice. A sample of 320 rice farmers was selected using a multistage sampling technique. The Cobb-Douglas production function results revealed that expenditure on seed, machine labour, and herbicide had a positive and significant impact on yield in the Dry direct seeded rice (DDSR) method. In the case of conventional transplanting (CT) method, insecticide, human labour, and irrigation charges had a positive and significant effect. The elasticity of fertilizer, machine labour, and irrigation charges was positively significant on yield in the DSDSR method, while human and machine labour were found to be significant in CT method. The RUE ratio was less than one for fertilizer (-0.32), herbicide (-0.14) and human labour (0.05) which indicated excess utilization of these resources, implying the need to reduce the quantity of these resources to achieve maximum returns in Wet direct seeded rice (WDSR) method. There is an inefficient use of resources in all the rice establishment methods, but more profound in traditional CT method than DSR and machine transplanting. More extension interventions are needed on the recommended dose of fertilizer application for enhancing the gross returns in rice cultivation. The study suggests awareness creation among the farmers on timely herbicide application and Cono-weeder usage for effective weed control in the WDSR method, which was found to be more resource efficient.

⓿ The study found mechanized rice cultivation as more resource-efficient.

⓿ The resource use efficiency ratios indicated scope for resource reallocation in all methods of rice cultivation.