PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF BORO RICE CULTIVATION IN SOME SELECTED HAOR AREAS OF KISHOREGONJ DISTRICT

Abstract

The present study was conducted to examine the socio-economic profile of the Boro rice growers of the Haor areas, determine the profitability of Boro rice cultivation in the Haor areas by farm size, identify the problems faced by the farmers in boro rice cultivation, and suggest policy implication. A total number of 100 Boro rice growers were randomly selected in 2021 by using interview schedule technique of which 58 were small, 34 were medium, and 8 were large. Four Upazila namely, Itna, Mithamoin, Nikli and Austagram were the locale of the study. Sample farmers are classified as small, medium and large. Simple random sampling was used in the study. The finding of benefit cost analysis reveals that Boro rice production is a profitable activity in Bangladesh as the estimated cost of production was lower than the return in the selected study areas. Per hectare gross cost of small, medium and large farmers were respectively Tk 101649.6, Tk 97181.36and Tk 98793.81 and per hectare gross returns were Tk 124527, Tk 118925.32and Tk 125970.5, respectively. It was observed that per hectare net return was Tk. 22877.4, 21743.96 and 27176.69 for the small, medium, and large farmers, respectively. This result indicated that large farmers earned more profit than the other group of farmers. The undiscounted BCR were 1.23, 1.22, and 1.28 in small, medium ant and large farmers, respectively. In addition, the functional analysis identifies three inputs such as the cost of human labor, fertilizer and irrigation as the significant determinants of profitability of Boro rice production in the study area. Some recommendations suggested to improve the present production situation so that Boro rice cultivation could be more viable and attractive commercial enterprise.