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This study aimed to investigate the cost-benefit per hectare of rice production in the haor region in Bangladesh. For doing so, the multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect cross-sectional data during 2018 from four haor districts producing rice in Bangladesh. To achieve the purpose, a total of 368 randomly selected farming households from Habiganj, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, and Sylhet districts were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done utilizing descriptive statistics and cost and return analysis. The result revealed that labor costs constituted the largest proportion of gross operating expenses, followed by fertilizer, irrigation, tillage, insecticides and herbicides, and threshing cost. The cost-benefit analysis finding also shows that rice is a profitable enterprise in the haor areas as the lower production cost compared to return. Because of the amount of input used and the price of output, the profitability differs between different seasons, however. The model shows that cost of seed, human labor cost, cost of TSP, cost of MoP, and cost of irrigation were the key factors that influenced rice production. This study also identified some of the problems related to rice production in haor areas. Lower output price, higher input price, unavailability of short growth duration high yielding varieties, and embankment damages, etc., are key obstacles to rice production. Therefore, this study provides the government's concerned authority with appropriate suggestions and policy recommendations to solve the farmers' issues that could boost rice productivity in the haor areas and contribute to food security and self-sufficiency in rice cultivation.

Bangladesh has made tremendous strides in the development of modern rice varieties as well as boosting domestic rice production up. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the performance, identify the criteria and constraints, as well as find out the drivers influencing the adoption and intensity of adoption of BRRI developed modern rice cultivars in Boro season. A total of 780 randomly selected farmers were interviewed using a structured schedule from 13 upazilas of the Mymensingh district. Descriptive statistics used mainly to evaluate the socio-economic characteristics of farmers as well as the performance of BRRI varieties, and a censored Tobit regression model employed to figure out the drivers of BRRI variety adoption. The results showed that in the Boro season about 85% area of Mymensingh district was covered by BRRI varieties and yielded 5.93 t/ha on average. The outcome of the model indicates that variables such as farmers schooling, farm size, farming experience, training and extension service, demonstration, distance to the nearby market, higher yield capacity, number of cultivated varieties, higher price, and good taste were influential drivers of adopting BRRI variety during the Boro season. This finding recommends that breeders should emphasize the farmers preferences while developing varieties, as well as providing training and field demonstration for spreading newly established BRRI rice varieties. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2020; 18(3.000): 660-666]

The size of the farm is an important factor that reflects the efficient utilization of resources in farming. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate how the farm size affects the cost efficiency of rice production during the Boro season in Bangladesh. In particular, the analysis aims to estimate the concentration of cost efficiency among the 240 small, medium, and large Boro rice growers sampled in the Dinajpur district. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the socioeconomic characteristics of rice farmers. A Cobb-Douglas type stochastic cost frontier model was employed to figure out how the rice farmers are cost-efficient. The sociodemographic factors that affect efficient investment in rice production also have been identified. Results of the study show a broad range of cost efficiency scores between 56.65 to 96.40% for the worse to the best rice-growing farmer, respectively with an average efficiency of 84.01%. The findings also show that the mean cost efficiency level of small, medium, and large farmers was 83.30, 85.58, and 94.43%, respectively. The land rental fees, human labor wages, irrigation prices, and pesticide prices are the key factors that contribute to the productivity of rice cultivation. The relatively higher level of cost efficiency among large farmers obviously demonstrates the notion that only large farmers in the study region are investing efficiently in rice growing. Irrespective of the farm size, the cost efficiency drivers found out that more efficient were the farmers who had more experience in farming, obtained training on rice production techniques, and better access to institutional credit. It is therefore recommended that rice farmers should be well trained, provided credit access along with developing rural set-up, and also provide extension services in order to increase the cost efficiency levels in Boro season. [Fundam Appl Agric 2021; 6(1.000): 67-77]