Resource Use Efficiency under Rice Cultivation in Old Alluvial Zone of West Bengal, India: An Empirical Assessment of Beneficiary and Non-Beneficiary Farmers

Abstract

Effective utilization of resources is a significant concern from an economic standpoint to enhance production levels and optimize returns. The current research examined the efficiency of resource usage in rice farming in the old alluvial region of West Bengal. A sample of 100 beneficiaries and 100 non-beneficiaries were purposively selected from Balurghat block of Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal. Cost of Cultivation, resource use efficiency and the relative percentage change in marginal value product were estimated. The estimated R2 value for beneficiary farmers was 0.63 which clearly indicates that 63 per cent of the variations in rice yield are explained by the explanatory variables considered in the model. The elasticity coefficients of hired labour (0.15), seeds (0.08), DAP/SSP (0.14), farm yard manure (0.16) and irrigation (0.15) were found positive and statistically significant. The level of adjustments estimated for various resources to earn optimum returns were seeds (75.37 per cent), DAP/SSP (81.88 per cent), farm yard manures (51.14 per cent) and irrigation (79.72 per cent), respectively. Similarly, the estimated R2 value for non-beneficiary farmers was 0.53 indicates that 53 per cent of the variations were explained by the explanatory variables. The elasticity coefficients of family labour (0.16), Urea (0.04), farm yard manure (0.12) and irrigation (0.07) were found positive and statistically significant. The level of adjustments estimated for various resources to earn optimum returns were Urea (65.10 per cent), farm yard manures (32.61per cent) and irrigation (69.56 per cent), respectively. The efficiency ratios which are more than one in each case clearly indicates that these resources are being used at sub-optimum level and therefore, farmers could improve economic efficiency and productivity if they use more of these resources. The level of adjustments estimated for various resources to earn optimum returns were analyzed