Greening Modern Rice Farming Using Vermicompost and Its Impact on Productivity and Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis from Bangladesh

Sanzidur Rahman () and Basanta Barmon

Agriculture, 2019, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Greening modern rice farming while improving productivity and reducing chemical use is a desirable goal for sustainable agriculture. This paper analyzes the impact of vermicomposting on productivity and efficiency of modern rice farming using a random sample of 340 farmers from the southwestern region of Bangladesh by applying a stochastic production frontier approach. Results reveal that productivity is significantly higher and the use of chemicals is significantly lower for vermicompost users as expected. However, profitability gain is not significantly different mainly due to the high cost of vermicompost. Use of vermicompost significantly increases productivity along with other conventional inputs and its users are relatively more technically efficient. Policy implications include investments to raise farmers’ awareness of the benefits of vermicomposting and support entrepreneurs to expand commercial production of vermicompost, which will synergistically curb the use of chemicals in modern rice farming while improving productivity and efficiency.

Keywords: vermicomposting; rice production; stochastic production frontier; technical efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:11:p:239-:d:285552

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