Economic Impact Assessment of Modern Technology of Legume Crops III Arid Rajasthan

Transcription

1 Annals of Arid Zone 43(1): 91-95, 2004 Economic Impact Assessment of Modern Technology of Legume Crops III Arid Rajasthan B. Singh*, B.1.. Gajja 1, Khem Chand 2 and R.K. Beniwal Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Bikaner ' , India I Central Arid Zone Reserch Institute, Jodhpur , India 2 Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Pali , India Abstract: The impact of new technology to cultivate legume crop on productivity of moth bean and clusterbean was studied. Twenty-five farmers each adopting new and old technology were selected using simple random sampling technique. Total change in output due to improved technologies was 68 and 63% in moth bean and clusterbean, respectively. The contribution of improved variety (moth bean RMO-40 and clusterbean RSG 936) was 59% in moth bean and 42% in clusterbean. The remaining change in output was due to increased level of input use. The findings of the study have important implications for the arid regions of the state, since these crops occupy around 30% of the total cropped area. Key words: Moth bean, clusterbean, HYV s, decomposition analysis, return to investment in research. The agricultural production of the country increased sharply after 1965 due to introduction of high-yielding varieties (HYVs), use of fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, institutional support, etc. A large part of cultivated area is still rainfed, where rate of growth is very slow. The average monsoon period in arid Rajasthan is only 60 to 70 days and rainfall is low and erratic. The agricultural production in this area has also increased, but the rate of growth is very slow. A number of short duration HYVs of different crops have been evolved. With the introduction of new crop technologies, the productivity-dominant output growth pattern has emerged. It is, therefore, essential to find out the role of technological changes and increased inputs in crop productivity and the extent of inputs saved due to change in technology. To answer these questions an attempt was made * Deceased, to decompose the output change under new technology for moth bean and ciusterbean. Methodology Two adopted villages in Bikaner tehsil were selected for the present study. Twentyfive farmers, each from adopted and nonadopted group of new technology for moth bean and clusterbean cultivation were selected using simple random sampling technique during the years 1998 and The separate crop production functions were estimated for modem and traditional technologies. The production function approach has been widely used to decompose total change in output (Bisaliah, 1977; Thakur and Kumar, 1984; Hussain and Young,.1985; Kiresur et at., 1995). The specification of production functions used in decomposition analysis is as follows:

2 92 SINGH el (/1. Ln Ln where. Y HL OE Yt Ym FERT = Ln At + at Ln FERTt + a2 Ln HLt + a} Ln OEt + Ut Ln Am + b, Ln FERTm + b2 Ln HLm + b} Ln OEm + U2 = yield of crop (q ha'l) Subscripts t and modern respectively. (I).,. (2) expenditure on fertilizers and farm yard manure (Rs. ha'l) Human labor (Mandays ha'l) Other expenditures including cost of seeds and m indicate traditional technology systems, In addition to fitting crop production functions for traditional and modern technologies, a pooled function was also fitted using dummy variable for variety. The following model was used to decompose the total change in crop output: Ln Ym - Ln Yt = (Ln Am - Ln At) + [(bt-at) Ln FERTt + (b2-a:n Ln HLt + (b}-a}) Ln OEd + [bt(ln FERTm-Ln FERTt) + b2 (Ln HLm-Ln HLt) + b} (Ln OEm... (3) The decomposition equation (3) gives approximate measure of per cent change in output with the introduction of HYVs (modern technology) of moth bean and clusterbean. The first bracketed expression on right hand side is a measure of percentage change in output due to shift in scale parameter (A) of the production function. The second bracketed expression measures, the effect of change in slope parameters, and these two terms sum up to the total effect of modern technology. The third bracketed term measures the contribution of change in input use. The difference between the resources required to produce, the per hectare yield under modern technology indicates the value of input saved because the value of inputs saved (Is) under modern technology over traditi')nal technology is treated as benefit of modern technology, which' is measured as: Rt = (I + r/100) Is = (1'/100) Rm where, Is Rm Rm = value of inputs used in producing yield of crop with modern technology (Ym) Rt value of inputs required to produce Ym level of crop yield with traditional technology r = percentage change in output per hectare under modern technology value of per hectare inputs saved to produce with modern technology (Ym) Results and Discussion Structural break and nature of technological chaj~ge The HYVs RMO-40 and RSG-936 were introduced for moth bean and clusterbean, respectively. The estimated production functions for both crops were significant at I % level (Table I). The value of coefficients of determinants varied from

3 ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT 93 Table 1. Estilllaled parameters of liloth beall alld clusterbeall productioll fullctiolls Particulars Moth bean Clusterbean Modern Traditional Pooled Modern Traditional Pooled Constant Dummy for variety *** *** (0.0533) (0.0417) Fertilizers and manure ** * ** ** ** ** (0.0 I09) ( ) (0.0232) (0.0317) (0.0302) (0.0391) Labor (man days ha"l) ** ** ** ** ** ** (0.293) (0.0247) (0.1133) ( ) (0.0344) (0.0913) Other expenses * ** ** * ** ** (0.0802) (0.0667) (0.0877) (0.1286) (0.0917) (0.913) No. of observations W *** **, * Significant at I. 5 :lnd 10%. level, respectively. Figures in parenthesis indicate standard errors to 0.95 in crops under study indicating high degree of goodness of fit. The variables like fertilizer and manure, labor, and other expenses were significant at 5% level of significance in all the production functions except other expenses under modern technology in both the crops. The value of regression coefficients under modern technology for both crops was higher than under traditional technology. The Chow's test (1960) was applied to find out the equality of regression coefficients including intercept and was found significant at 5% level. This indicated that modern technology caused structural break in production response and shifted the crop production function. Testing the homogeneity of regression coefficients of various inputs, while intercept was allowed to differ in both the production functions, tested the nature of technological change. The result of this test was non-significant indicating that shift in production function was due to intercept only and not due Table 2. Testillg of colllplete struclliral relatiollship betweell modern alld traditiollal techllologies for liloth beall alld clusterbeall Variables Intercept Fertilizer and manure Labor Other expenses Dummy for intercept Dummy for fertilizer and manure Dummy for labor Dummy for other expenses Moth bean ** ** ** ** Regression coefficients Clusterbean ** ** ** **

4 _J 94 SINGH et al. Items Observed change Source of change Technical change Complementary inputs Fertilizers and manure Labor Other expenses Total change due to inputs Total estimate change Moth bean to slope (Alshi et al., 1983; Kiresure et al., 1995). A dummy variable for each input and intercept was used to test the complete structural break through. The dummy variables for all inputs were non-significant, indicating that structural break through was due to intercept, i.e., improvement in genetic quality of seed (Table 2). Returns to investment 11l research Decomposition analysis The decomposition analysis also The estimated difference in crop yield provided essential information to work out per hectare between modem and traditional the returns on investment in research. The technologies was and 63.47% in moth value of inputs saved approach was used bean and clusterbean, respectively. The for the same. The value of additional inputs technological change alone contributed required to produce per hectare yields and 42.39% in HYVs of moth bean equivalent to the modern technology over and clusterbean, respectively (Table 3). This traditional technology was Rs and Table 4. Value of inputs saved due to modern tixhnology Items Modern technology yield (q ha- I ) Traditional technology yield (q ha- I ) Rm Rt (Rs.) (Rs.) Value of inputs saved (Rs. ha- I ) Moth indicates that with the use of present level of inputs the farmer could increase the productivity, by planting HYVs of moth bean and clusterbean. The productivity of moth bean and clusterbean can be further increased by 9 and 21 % by increasing the use of inputs to the same level as that under modem technology. bean Crop Clusterbean

5 ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT in moth bean and clusterbean, respectively (Table 4). In other words, in the absence of modern technology a farmer would have 'required additional inputs for producing comparable yield. So, this is the inputs saved due to use of modern technology. This magnitude of' resource saving has been due to an upward shift in the production function or a downward shift in the unit cost function on account of use of modern technology. References Alshi, M.R., Kumar, P. and Mathur, V.c Technological change and factor shares in cotton production: A case study of Akola Cotton Farms. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 38: Bisaliah, S Decomposition analysis of output change under new production technology in wheat farming - some implications to returns on research investment. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 32: ] Chow, G.c Test of equality between sets of coefficients in two regressions. Econometrica 28(3): 59] Hussain, R.S. and Young, R.A Salinity damage of irrigated crops-economic measurements from farm survey in Pakistan. Working Paper 85-5, Department of Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Kiresur, V., Pandey, R.K. and Mruthyunjaya Technological change in sorghum production: An econometric study of Dharwad farms in Karanataka. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 50: Thakur, J. and Kumar, P A comparative study of economic efficiency of different irrigation systems in western UP. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 39: