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Abstract
Results of a collaborative project involving over 28 agronomists and economists
are reported. Over 800 agronomic experiments conducted in ten locations in six
Asian countries comparing farmers' production with maximum yield levels of
modern rice technology are analysed. Under wet season conditions, yields were
raised by an average of 0.9 tonnes per hectare, but the cost of obtaining the
increased yields exceeded their value in six out of ten locations. Under dry
season conditions, yields were increased by an average of 1.3 tonnes per hectare,
and were profitable in nine out of ten locations. High levels of fertilizer and
insect control contributed roughly equally to raising the yields, but the increased
cost of high insect control exceeded the value of its yield contribution in most
cases. The opposite was generally true for fertilizer. One result has been that
rice entomologists have reoriented their research to try and achieve more cost
effective protection. There was a distinct negative correlation between the
increased yield obtained by adding fertilizer above the farmers' levels and the
price of fertilizer in terms of rice, dramatizing how price policies affect
incentives.