Study of economics of paddy cultivation under transplantation, system of rice intensification (SRI) and direct seeding in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh

This study compares the costs and returns of paddy farms under SRI, transplantation and direct seeding methods. A pre-tested schedule was used to collect data through survey method related to the rabi season. The study was based on input-output data from 90 sample paddy farmers i.e., 30 each adopting transplantation, SRI and direct seeding methods were selected randomly in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. The Cobb-Douglas production function analysis indicated increasing returns to scale in SRI (∑bi =1.0821) and decreasing returns to scale for transplanted farms (∑bi =0.8734) and direct seeded farms (∑bi =0.8374) indicating that SRI was comparatively better system than transplantation and direct seeding methods. The production elasticities are negative for manures and fertilizers (−0.0036) in SRI, plant protection chemicals (−0.0060) in transplantation, and fertilizers (0.0270) in direct seeded paddy farms indicating the excess usage of these inputs.