Ex-ante evaluation of integrated crop management options for irrigated rice production in the Senegal River Valley

Abstract

We assess the performance of rice integrated crop management (RICM) technology options among small-scale irrigated rice farmers in the Senegal River Valley (SRV). Mathematical programming techniques are used to develop farm models in order to identify optimal farm plans, determine yield and profit effects, and identify key constraints to the use of RICM. Sensitivity analysis is used to assess the implications of the results for farmers in different resource endowment groups. Simulation results show significant increase in yield and farm income from improved crop and resource management for small-scale irrigated rice production. The optimal plan for farms in the high resource endowment group is to allocate all available land to the RICM technology basket. The resulting yield and net farm profits are 7400 kg ha-1 of paddy and 621 US$ ha-1, respectively, and these are significantly higher than yields and net profits from observed farmer practices. However, the optimal farm plan, output and net revenue are different for producers in the medium and low resource endowment groups. For these groups, the optimal plans are to adopt RICM components in combination with observed farmer practices. Yield and net farm revenue for the medium resource category are 6200 kg ha-1 and 507 US$ ha-1, respectively. For producers in the low resource group, the corresponding values are 5300 kg ha-1 and 383 US$ ha-1. The key constraints for farms in the high resource endowment category are land, credit and labor for harvest/post-harvest operations. The key constraints for producers in the medium resource endowment category are land and labor for harvest/post-harvest operations. For farmers in the low resource endowment category, labor for weeding and harvest/post-harvest operations are the main constraints. The importance of labor for weeding in this group is explained by the emphasis on manual weeding. We conclude that farms in all resource groups will realize yield and net revenue increases from the use of RICM technology options. However, the optimal farm plans, main constraints and associated increases in yield and net revenue are different for different resource levels. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.