Title: Opportunities for the diversification of Asian rice farming systems: A deterministic paradigm
Abstract: DECLINING PROFITABILITY OF rice production and the consequent decline in rice farmer income and welfare have increased interest in crop and income diversification. Policy discussions ondiversification haveoften been preceded by farmer initiatives to sustain their incomes by moving at least partially out of monoculture rice production into other crops and/or into other enterprises. Indeed, Thailand, a predominant rice exporter, has exhibited the highest levels of diversification from rice production in the region. A smaller, though significant, shift from rice monoculture has been observed in the Philippines and Indonesia. This paper views diversification from rice monoculture into a multi-crop/ enterprise system as an essential consequence of agricultural development. This process is induced by the changing relative profitability of rice and nonrice enterprises. Diversification from rice to nonrice crops will not always be profitable and will face both physical and economic constraints. This paper attempts to identify and evaluate these constraints for each of the major rice growing environments. Research priorities were assessed for rice and rice-based farming systems keeping in view the relative profitability of rice production by environment. Thispaperdrawsonavarietyofdatasourcesbothprimaryand secondary. Panel datasets forthe Philippines,Thailand and Indonesia collectedby thesocialkiences Division of the International Rice Research Institute for the years 1980 and 1988 are used to examine changes in farmer crop and non-crop enterprise choices over time and to examine the changing profitability of rice versus nonrice enterprises. These data sets were complemented with data from other published sources and from the literature to provide a continent-wide (Asia-wide) perspective for the conclusions reached.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Language: en
Type: preprint
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Cited By Count: 1
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