TY - JOUR
T1 - An economic assessment of adoption of hybrid rice
T2 - Micro-level evidence from southern China
AU - Yan, Zedong
AU - Chen, Fengbo
AU - Mishra, Ashok K.
AU - Sha, Wenbiao
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BGL183), EU Project H2020 programme (No. 822730), and the Rice Research System in Guangdong Province, China (2021KJ105).
Funding Information:
We thank Professor Weng Zhenlin from Jiangxi Agricultural University, Professor Li Hongmei and Professor Tang Qiyuan from Hunan Agricultural University, Professor Liu Pengling from Anhui Agricultural University for their help, and various students from South China Agricultural University for conducting the survey and cleaning the data.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Yan, Chen, Mishra and Sha.
PY - 2022/12/7
Y1 - 2022/12/7
N2 - The hybrid rice technology could be considered a boon for food security for many in South and Southeast Asia to increase rice productivity. In China, the birthplace of hybrid rice (HR), the diffusion of hybrid rice started in 1976. About 28% rice-growing area in China is planted with hybrid rice. However, the proportion of HR area in China has been declining in recent years, and farmers in surrounding countries are reluctant to adopt it because of high seed costs, farm management practices, and quality issues. Most previous research on the evaluation of hybrid rice variety on yield does not control input level. This study uses the endogenous switching regression method to analyze the impacts of HR adoption on rice yield and net rice income. The study uses plot- and household-level data from four southern provinces of China. Findings show a significant effect of HR adoption on rice yields. On the same HR plots, compared to CR adopters, rice yield increases by 4.86% for HR adopters. Rice yield would increase by 4.72% if the HR variety was adopted on the same conventional rice (CR) plots. Additionally, findings show a significant effect of HR adoption on net rice incomes. On the same HR plots, compared to CR adopters, net rice income decreases by 43.61% for HR adopters. Similarly, net rice income would reduce by 10.95% if the HR variety was adopted on the same CR plots. Thus, adopting HR increases rice productivity, but Chinese farming households that adopted CR would not benefit from adopting HR. Policymakers can formulate a systematic and comprehensive rice breeding plan to guide the simultaneous development of rice variety yield and quality improvement. Additionally, policymakers, in conjunction with private companies, could enact policies to reduce the cost of hybrid rice seed or improve the production efficiency of HR. For example, they could incentivize the development of HR varieties suitable for direct seeding and seed-saving sowing methods (rice trans-planter).
AB - The hybrid rice technology could be considered a boon for food security for many in South and Southeast Asia to increase rice productivity. In China, the birthplace of hybrid rice (HR), the diffusion of hybrid rice started in 1976. About 28% rice-growing area in China is planted with hybrid rice. However, the proportion of HR area in China has been declining in recent years, and farmers in surrounding countries are reluctant to adopt it because of high seed costs, farm management practices, and quality issues. Most previous research on the evaluation of hybrid rice variety on yield does not control input level. This study uses the endogenous switching regression method to analyze the impacts of HR adoption on rice yield and net rice income. The study uses plot- and household-level data from four southern provinces of China. Findings show a significant effect of HR adoption on rice yields. On the same HR plots, compared to CR adopters, rice yield increases by 4.86% for HR adopters. Rice yield would increase by 4.72% if the HR variety was adopted on the same conventional rice (CR) plots. Additionally, findings show a significant effect of HR adoption on net rice incomes. On the same HR plots, compared to CR adopters, net rice income decreases by 43.61% for HR adopters. Similarly, net rice income would reduce by 10.95% if the HR variety was adopted on the same CR plots. Thus, adopting HR increases rice productivity, but Chinese farming households that adopted CR would not benefit from adopting HR. Policymakers can formulate a systematic and comprehensive rice breeding plan to guide the simultaneous development of rice variety yield and quality improvement. Additionally, policymakers, in conjunction with private companies, could enact policies to reduce the cost of hybrid rice seed or improve the production efficiency of HR. For example, they could incentivize the development of HR varieties suitable for direct seeding and seed-saving sowing methods (rice trans-planter).
KW - farming households
KW - fertilizer
KW - income
KW - pesticides
KW - rice seasons
KW - seeds
KW - yields
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U2 - 10.3389/fsufs.2022.1066657
DO - 10.3389/fsufs.2022.1066657
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85144406406
SN - 2571-581X
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
JF - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
M1 - 1066657
ER -