Economic evaluation of Pusa Rice Hybrid 10 cultivation: a micro-economic evidence of Uttarakhand, India
HN Singh1, S Singh2, US Singh3, J Singh1, NW Zaidi1 & S Mohanty3
1Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pant nagar-263 145,
2Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa New Delhi 110 012,
3Social Sciences Division, IRRI, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, The Philippines E-mail: harinath.singh11@gmail.com
Received 07.12.11, revised 10.07.12
Policies for quality hybrid rice research, large-scale adoption and their impact on households’ rice economy are discussed in this study. Farm level data was used to analyze the impact of Pusa Rice Hybrid 10 (PRH 10) on input demand and income of households in irrigated rice growing environment. The quality traits of this hybrid seem to be positive as high HRR, aroma, cooking and eating quality. Consumers demand in the market for PRH 10 is very strong which led to premium prices. Based on analysis, it is found that, compared with conventional modern varieties; PRH 10 uses about 5% less input due to lesser use of fertilizer and labour. The lesser requirements for fertilizer and labour probably arise from shorter maturity duration (115 days) and lower seeding rate. Analysis revealed that, given the same level of inputs, the grain yield of PRH 10 has slightly lower than HYVs, whereas, net return is higher about 80%. Analysis indicates that PRH 10 was planted about 11 % area but the share of income was 16% to total rice income. Adoption of PRH 10 also facilitates farmers to increase crop diversification and intensification that could maintain soil health and environment.
Keywords: Hybrid, Aromatic rice, Basmati, Traditional and Stability IPC Int. Cl.8: A01G 9/00, A01G 16/00, A01H 1/02, A23L, A01
Rice is the main staple food crop of the state of Uttarakhand in kharif season. It is grown in an area of about 2.86 lakh hectares accounting for about 54% to the total area of cereal in kharif in state. Out of this, 1.48 lakh hectares (51%) rice is cultivated in plains and remaining in hills. The average productivity of rice in the state is 1.9 tons/ha which is slightly lower than the national average of 2.2 tons/ha. There are two distinctive rice growing environments in the state, viz. plain and hill. The average rice productivity of these environments are 2.6 and 1.3 tons/ha, respectively. Hybrid rice is cultivated in India on more than 1.70 million ha, with an average yield advantage of 10-20% over pure line conventional varieties. Hybrids have also been developed for the fragile and unfavorable rice ecosystems. Aromatic rice hybrid Pusa RH 10 has been developed from Public Sector Institute, Indian Rice Research Institute, New Delhi. It has very fine grain and excellent cooking quality. India has released many high- yielding Basmati rice varieties. These varieties have
short duration (120 days versus 160 days in traditional basmati) and higher productivity (5-6 t/ha versus 2-2.5 t/ha for traditional basmati). Although plains of Uttarakhand have very unique and favorable environment for quality basmati rice production but it is restricted due to severe incidence of diseases and insects1. Pusa Basmati 1 is the first semi-dwarf high yielding rice basmati variety developed in 1989.
This was followed by a number of long grain aromatic rice varieties with reduced duration and higher yield (e.g. Pusa Sugandh 2, Pusa Sugandh 4 and Pusa Sugandh 5, etc.). Considerable efforts were made to reduce duration of basmati-type varieties from 160 days in traditional basmati to 120 days in modern varieties. While the productivity is increased from 2-2.5-5-6 t/ha. Development of Pusa Rice Hybrid 10 with all basmati qualities and reduced maturity duration (i.e. 120 days) is the great achievement of hybrid rice breeding program in the country2.
The major objective of hybrid rice promotion in targeted area was to improve and stabilize farmers’
income that could be helpful to eliminate poverty of rural poor.
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*Corresponding author
Methodology
Survey design and analytical tools
In year 2009, promotion of PRH 10 cultivation was initiated in two blocks namely Rudrapur and Gadarpur of Udhamsingnagar district, Uttarakhand.
However, due to strong popularity of this technology, it was expanded in four other blocks Kashipur, Sitarganj, Khatima and Bajpur in following year 2010. In initial stage, seed of Pusa Rice Hybrid 10 (PRH 10) was given to the 494 farmers for promotion of hybrid rice cultivation in district US Nagar. Since, it was an introductory stage of hybrid rice cultivation, therefore, seed cost was subsidize up to 75% during the first year, which was reduced to 50% in second year.
Data on various aspects of households’ demographic and socioeconomic structure, land use pattern, rice production practices and different sources of annual income were recorded continuously since 2008 on pre-tested schedules. In the analysis, year 2009 was considered as ‘farmers’ experimentation’ period for hybrid rice technology. Where as, in 2010 farmers’
were able to harvest good crop due to better experiences of cultivation practices. For estimation of costs and returns of rice production in target area intensive data parcel (IDP) survey method was used. Measures of central tendencies and descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the data on different components of production practices. To estimate precise value of variability in yield and income of rice, farmer dummy model was used to remove the effect of management practices from yield3.
Technology profile
Pusa Rice Hybrid 10 (PRH 10) is the first aromatic Basmati Hybrid developed from public sector Agricultural Research Institute and released by Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC) in 2001.
This hybrid has many positive traits which attract producers, consumer and traders in different ways.
PRH 10 is a high yielding, early maturity (115-120 days), fine grain, basmati-type rice hybrid4. The different quality traits of this hybrid are positive such as high milling recovery, milled grain aroma, good cooking quality, and enough volume expansion after cooking, non-glutinous and good taste. Cultivation of Pusa RH 10 is a way to encourage farmers for crop intensification by early harvesting. Farmers can easily take third crop like toria, potato and pea in between rice-wheat (after rice-before wheat) cropping system.
The intensification of crops can encourage farmers to realize higher profit from per unit land. This process also facilitates to increase diversification which could be able to maintain soil health and environment.
Results and discussion
Major rice varieties
Rice varietal diversity was high in surveyed areas of state, which are predominantly irrigated.
Out of 40, three varieties Sarbati, PR 113 and HKR 120 were the ruling varieties during all the years.
Sarbati is a short, fine grain rice variety of 135 days duration. It requires relatively less fertilizer with an average yield of 3.0-3.9 tons/ha. Due to better grain and cooking quality, it fetches premium price in the market as compared to other non-basmati rice varieties. Cultivation of PRH 10 was initiated during 2009. During the first year itself it was planted on 9% of total rice area in selected villages of Udhamsingnagar district. Sarbati, PR 113 and HKR 120 covered >60% area in kharif 2008. The area under Sarbati declined approximately by 5% in 2009 with the introduction of PRH 10. Sarbati accounted only 11% of the total rice area during 2010.
Replacement of Sarbati with PRH 10 was mainly because of relatively higher yield, better grain quality and higher market price of later variety. In year 2010, area under PRH 10 was increased by 3% and area under Sarbati declined further by 1% . A positive antagonism was observed between Sarbati and PRH 10 rice varieties in surveyed area.
Acreage of other varieties grown by farmers almost remains the same across the surveyed area from 2008 - 2010 except HKR 120 which was increased from 19% in earlier years to 29% in 2010. However, HKR 120 is the high yielding, short bold grain and 135 days maturing variety. It is best suited for timely planting of wheat and mustard in surveyed area where rice-wheat is dominating cropping sequence.
Yield and share (%) of income by varieties
Table 1 presents the average yield of different rice varieties planted by the farmers and their relative contribution to total rice income in surveyed area.
As shown in the Table 1 rice varieties HKR 120, PR 113, PRH 10 and Sarbati, occupied more than 70% of total rice area. The yield of these varieties ranged from 3.9 to 5.4 t/ha in which PR 113 was the highest yielder and Sarbati showed lowest yield. These four verities contributed approximately 73% of total rice
income. Share of HRK 120 to total rice income was 26%, while this variety occupied 29% of total rice area. The relative share of PRH 10 to total rice income was about 16%, which is higher than its share of total rice area, i.e. 11%. Only other variety falling in this category was Sarbati which contributed 14%
to rice income against its 11% share of acreage.
The area-income relationship of different varieties may be an economic indicator to judge the superiority of a variety to the extent of income contribution5. The other rice varieties were relatively less important in terms of income contributions that range from 1 to 6%
to total income of rice.
Costs and net returns
A comparative analysis of costs and returns of PRH 10 and inbred rice varieties cultivation are presented in Table 2. In this analysis we have considered the data of cost of cultivation of year 2010, as 2009 was the year of introduction of hybrid rice production technology. Therefore, it was not proper to consider 2009 for the estimation of cost and return. The proportion of material cost to total cost was almost similar for both types of varieties which accounted 55% to total cost of cultivation. Material cost was slightly higher for inbred varieties, gross and net returns were much lower than PRH 10 rice varieties.
The share of labour costs accounted 45% of total cost involved in the cultivation of these two types of rice varieties. Land preparation and fertilizers were
major component of material costs which accounted 33% to total cost of cultivation in both types of rice varieties. Transplanting, harvesting and threshing were the major components of labor cost that accounted approximately 42% of total cost of cultivation of rice varieties.
Other concerns were use of pesticides and herbicides which accounted 12% and 9%, respectively to total cost of cultivation of inbred and PRH 10 rice varieties. High rainfall and humidity is common and peculiar feature of rice growing environment of terai. These climatic variables provide favorable condition for diseases and insect pests due to which most of the farmers go for 2-3 sprays the pesticides.
In case of gross and net return from both types of varieties, the scenario was very interesting. The net return from cultivation of PRH 10 and inbred varieties were Rs. 42721 and Rs. 23466/ hectare, respectively (Table 2). Net return from PRH 10 was 45% higher than the other rice varieties. This was major factor responsible for making cultivation of PRH 10 popular among the rice farming community in Udham Singh Nagar district of the state. There were two sources of enhancement of income, viz: improved production practices and better price of rice in the market.
Moreover, this situation led to strong demand of seed among the farmers for its cultivation in wet season 2010. Although, the benefit cost ratio of both types of varieties are very much satisfactory but it was more attractive for PRH 10, which was 3.70.
Table 1—Acreage, yield and share (%) in gross income of rice of different varieties during 2010
Rice Varieties Acreage
(%)
Yield (t/ha)
Gross Income (Rs. Lakh)
Share (%)
HKR 120 29 5.2 64.68 26
PR 113 20 5.4 42.51 17
Pusa RH 10 11 4.5 39.71 16
Sarbati 11 3.9 33.92 14
NDR 359 7 5.2 16.01 6
HKR 147 5 5.1 10.60 4
Pant 10 2 5.1 6.67 3
Pusa 1121 2 3.0 5.33 2
Indrasan 2 5.3 5.24 2
PR 114 2 5.0 4.44 2
Taraori Basmati 2 2.6 3.99 2
Sarjoo 52 2 4.1 3.05 1
Jaya 2 4.6 2.67 1
Arize 6444 1 4.9 1.81 1
Pusa 44 1 4.7 1.49 1
Total 100 4.8 247.42 100
Source: Farm Survey data
Assessing the performance of Pusa RH 10
The technology of hybrid rice production was initiated in the wet season of 2009 among 496 farmers of two blocks of the district. However, access of seed from Seed Company was slightly delayed and farmers were also not experienced for hybrid rice cultivation.
These factors were responsible for delay in establishment of nursery and planting during 2009 resulting into poor crop performance (Table 3). The optimum time of establishment of nursery in the district is 3rd to 4th week of May. The optimum age of seedling for transplanting is 21-25 days. The recommended time of transplanting is 1st to 3rd week of June depending to some extent on maturity duration of the varieties.
There are several parameters to assess the impact of any intervention/ technology in agriculture sector.
These parameters are dependent on the nature of technological implications in the target area. The average yield of Pusa RH 10 and inbred rice varieties were 2.4 and 4.6 t/ha, respectively during 2009
(Table 4). The yield of Pusa RH 10 was not only lower in 2009 but also associated with a high degree of variability (46%). The similar result was observed in case of income variability. This result indicates that the distributions of yield and income across the plots were found highly skewed. However, the poor performance of Pusa RH 10 was mainly related to delayed nursery raising and transplanting and use of older seedlings for the transplanting (Table 3). Many farmers in surveyed villages planted 5-7 week old seedlings coupled with higher incidence of insects and diseases. Where as, the maturity duration of Pusa RH 10 is 115 days (Table 3). On the other hand, 3-4 week old seedlings were used for the planting in inbred varieties and most of these were of longer maturity duration (>130 days) resulting in higher yield (4.6 t/ha). These observations indicate that hybrid rice cultivation requires very precise agronomic management practice for proper realization of their potential yield and better income to farmers6.
Table 2—Costs and returns of different inbred and PRH 10 rice varieties (2010).(Rs/ha)
Components Inbred varieties Pusa RH 10
Rs. % Rs. %
Material cost
Seed 600 4 669 4
FYM 158 1 61 0
Land preparation 3171 19 3246 20
Inorganic-Fertilizers 2551 15 2051 13
Urea 1496 9 1058 7
DAP 1023 6 950 6
MOP 9 0 33 0
SSP 23 0 10 0
Zinc sulphate 168 1 249 2
Pesticides 1722 10 1057 7
Herbicides 351 2 325 2
Irrigation 457 3 921 6
Sub-total 9178 55 8579 54
Labor cost
Transplanting 2499 15 2270 14
Weeding 907 5 1295 8
Irrigation 110 1 170 1
Harvesting &Threshing 3439 21 3154 20
Others* 529 3 401 3
Sub-total 7484 45 7290 46
Total cost 16662 100 15869 100
Yield (t/ha) 4.8 4.5
Gross return 40128 58590
Net return 23466 42721
B:C Ratio 2.40 3.70
Includes cost of labor for nursery establishment, fertilization, FYM, pesticides, herbicides applications.
The feedback of farmers for agronomic management practices of Pusa RH 10 cultivation was instrumental in stabilizing yield across the plots in subsequent year 2010. The yield performance of Pusa RH 10 in later year was improved to a great extent as farmers learnt from their experience of previous year and following proper agronomic management practices. The average yield of Pusa RH 10 and inbred varieties were 4.5 and 4.8 t/ha, respectively, along with less variation in yield and income during 2010 (Table 4).
Projected Impact on rice economy
In spite of poor yield (2.4 t/ha) of Pusa RH 10 in the initial year 2009, there was significant increase in total acreage as well as share to rice income of the farmers in surveyed villages. The situation of rice growers during 2010 was quite improved where farmers realized Rs.29848/ha net income and area under Pusa RH 10 was increased to 11% of total rice area. The additional net income gain due to Pusa RH 10 cultivation was Rs. 6382/ha over inbred varieties (Table 5).
The per hectare net income of rice cultivation with and without inclusion of Pusa RH 10 were Rs.29848 and Rs. 23466/ha, respectively (Table 6).
There is 137430 hectare area under rice in district Udhamsinghnagar (2009). To the total area of rice in the district, 11% share of Pusa RH 10 accounts for 15117 hectare area. If this 11% of the total area is
planted by Pusa RH 10, a net income of Rs.96.47 million will be added to the rice economy of district which could offer better livelihood system for farming community7.
Seed production is an important aspect of hybrid rice promotion and cultivation. Moreover, availability of seed on time is very crucial for successful harvest of hybrid. The requirement of seed of hybrids for above estimated area would be approximately 226.75 tons on recommended seed rate. For production of 226.75 ton hybrid seed, according to an estimate roughly 18140 labour days may be required. This is an additional social benefit to create such a large number of days for labour employment through hybrid rice seed industry. Supply of huge amount of seed is the real challenge for seed companies.
Therefore, training of farmers for hybrid seed production technology may be appropriate to tackle hybrid seed problems in the country. To the extent that management of hybrid rice technology turns out to be information-intensive, increased public investment may be needed to better educate farmers so that they can properly manage the technology and exploit the crop’s full genetic potential8.
Concluding remark and policy issues
For effective and rapid transfer of Pusa RH 10 technology to large areas, the availability of adequate quantity of seed is pre-requisite. Seed
Table 3—Effect of nursery and transplanting dates on yield of PRH 10 during 2009 Date of nursery (weeks)
Date of transplanting (weeks)*
I/6 II/6 III/6 IV/5 IV/6
Average yield (t/ha)
I/7 3.1 3.8 0 2.8 0 3.1
II/7 2.1 2.9 4.0 1.1 0 2.5
III/6 0 0 0 3.2 0 3.2
III/7 1.9 1.8 3.0 0 4.3 2.0
IV/6 4.9 0 0 3.0 0 3.8
IV/7 1.1 2.1 1.8 0 3.0 2.3
*I,II,III and IV indicates of number of week in a given month and 5, 6, & 7 indicates number of months in ascending order (e.g. I/7 means Ist week of July)
Table 4—Performance of PRH 10 and inbred varieties on sample farms
Performance Indicators 2009 2010
Pusa RH 10 Inbred varieties Pusa RH 10 Inbred varieties
Yield (t/ha) 2.4 4.6 4.5 4.8
Share in area (%) 9 81 11 89
Net return (Rs/ha) 10410 4201 42721 23466
Share in gross income of rice (%) 5 95 16 84
Plot-level yield variability (%) 46 25 20 22
Income variability (%) 73 43 30 48
production agencies, particularly seed industries, public and private, need to be motivated to produce large quantities of seed. Since hybrid rice seed production is very much technical, there is need to train a large number of growers/farmers in hybrid rice seed production technology.
Hybrid rice cultivation is relatively new intervention for the farmers. Cultivation practices of hybrid require well managed production practices for realization of potential yield. Therefore, training of farmers for hybrid cultivation may be pre-requisite for successful harvest. To speed up large-scale adoption, there is need to create awareness and demand for Pusa RH 10 by conducting extensive on-farm trials, front-line demonstrations and training programs.
Adoption of Pusa RH 10 cultivation on large scale may facilitate to reduce the pressure of domestic demand for export quality of basmati, which fetches huge foreign exchange. The domestic demand for basmati can be easily met by promotion of Pusa RH 10 cultivation.
Acknowledgement
Financial assistance offered for this study by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India through project entitled `Rural Bioresource Complex’
and 494 farmers of Udhamsingh Nagar are duly acknowledged.
References
1 Singh HN, Singh US, Singh RK, Singh VK, Singh SP &
Mani SC, Adoption pattern and constraints analysis of basmati rice: Implications for enhancing adoption and
stabilizing productivity in Uttaranchal, India, Indian J Crop Sci, 1(1-2) (2006) 06-108.
2 Singh AK, Singh VP, Zaman FU & Hariprasad AS, Promoting long and extra-long grain aromatic rice varieties for improving productivity and production, In: Scented rices of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, edited by Singh RK and Singh US, Kalyani Publishers New Delhi, 2005, 57-63.
3 Singh HN, Pandey S & Villano R, Rainfed rice, risk and technology adoption: Some micro- economic evidences from Eastern India, In: Proceeding of the International conference on Characterizing and Understanding Rainfed Environments, 5-9 December 1999. Bali, Indonesia, edited by Tuong TP, Kan SP, Wade L, Pandey S, Bouman BAM and Hardy B, International Rice Research Institute Los Banos Philippines, 2000, 488.
4 Virmani SS & Zaman FU, Improving grain quality of hybrid rice challenges, strategies and achievements, In: Proceeding of the 3rd International Symposium on Hybrid Rice, 14-16 November 1996, Hyderabad India, edited by Virmani SS, Siddiq EA & Muralidharan K, International Rice Research Institute Manila, Philippines 1998, 177-186.
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6 Singh HN, Singh US & Mohanty S, Economic assessment of Pusa Rice Hybrid 10: a policy approach to enhancing and stabilizing income of rice farmers in Uttarakhand, India, Paper presented at the 28th International Rice Research Conference, 8-12 November 2010, Hanoi, Vietnam 2010.
7 Thao TD, Economic assessment of hybrid rice in Red River Delta, Vietnam. IRDC Project, Manila (Philippines):
International Rice Research Institute, 1998.
8 Pingali PL, Morris M & Moya P, Prospects for hybrid rice in tropical Asia, In: Proceeding of the 3rd International Symposium on Hybrid Rice, 14-16 November 1996, Hyderabad India. Edited by Virmani SS, Siddiq EA, Muralidharan K.International Rice Research Institute Manila, Philippines, 1998, 177-186.
Table 5—Projected impact of Pusa RH 10 cultivation on rice economy 2010 Variety types Yield
(t/ha)
Average price (Rs./t)
Net returns (Rs./ha)
Differences of income over Pusa RH 10 (Rs./ha)
Additional net income by inclusion of Pusa
RH 10 (Rs./ha)
All varieties* 4.8 9760 29848 12873 0
Inbreds only 4.8 8360 23466 19255 6382
PRH 10 4.5 13020 42721 0 0
* All varieties included PRH 10 with an area of 11 percent in total rice area.
Table 6—Area-income relationship of Pusa RH 10 cultivation in Udham Singh Nagar PRH 10 area
(% of total rice area)
Net Income from rice cultivation (Rs/ha)
Difference in net income (Rs/ha)
Impact in rice economy of district (Rs. million)
“0” 23466
11 29848
6382 96.47
