The performance of seed paddy production in the coastal belt of Ampara district

Abstract

Sri Lanka, like other countries in the Asian region, having an agricultural economy and the agricultural sector plays an important role in the economy and social development of the country. The average Paddy yield of the Ampara District (3 700-4 200 kg/ha) is very low when compared to the National and Potential yield (10mt/ha). One of the major reasons for this situation is lack of quality seed paddy. The coastal belt of Ampara faces many problems concerning seed paddy production. Therefore, this study intended to find out the major problems faced by the farmers and suggest causes for it. For the purpose of finding out the causes for the problems related to quality seed paddy, the study considered three variables. Those were socio-economic characteristics of farmers, cultivation practices adopted by the non-seed farmers and seed paddy farmers and third factor deals with problems related to the production of seed paddy and cost-benefit analysis of both non-seed paddy and seed paddy production. The information needed for this study were collected through the structured questionnaire distributed to paddy farmers in the five Al ranges in coastal belt of Ampara District namely Akkaraipattu East, Akkaraipattu West, Addalaichenai, Oluvil and Palamunai, and Ninthavur. One hundred (100) farming families (65 non-seed producers and 35 seed paddy farmers) were selected randomly and interviewed on the basis of proportionate random sampling method. The study conducted that the lack of quality seed paddy is one of the major problems that affect the yield of Paddy. A low yield directly reduces the returns and profits. However, private seed paddy production programme fills the gap to a certain extent. The seed paddy production involves similar practices as in the case of non-seed paddy production except for the better field management and post harvest operations. For these practices seed producers incurred additional cost of Rs. 15495 per acre but the remuneration was high. The profit of the non-seed paddy production and seed paddy production were Rs. 6430 and Rs. 18430 respectively. So the seed paddy production generates 3 times profit than non-seed paddy production. Almost all paddy farmers in this study were small holders (1-2 acre) and are without enough capital for Investment for production. Hence, the farmers obtained loans during the season to buy inputs such as fertilizer, agrochemicals and to hire tractor and labour.