How productive are rice farmers in Sri Lanka? The impact of resource accessibility, seed sources and varietal diversification

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of resource accessibility, seed sources and varietal diversification on the production efficiency of Sri Lankan rice growers using farm and household level survey data. The empirical results show that there are opportunities for average Sri Lankan rice farmers to further improve production efficiency by up to 30%. Among the variables, those related to resource accessibility, age, migration, income sources and agricultural training are all found to affect production efficiency. Furthermore, we find that households relying only on their own saved seeds are less efficient compared to those who had purchased seeds from markets. In addition, this study indicates that varietal diversification significantly reduces production efficiency.