AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ENERGY USE IN ZERO BUDGET NATURAL FARMING, ORGANIC FARMING AND CONVENTIONAL FARMING IN RICE PRODUCTION IN VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH STATE
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Date
2019
Authors
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ACHARYA N G RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, GUNTUR
Abstract
Energy use in agriculture increased with the increase in population, limited supply of arable land and desire for better standard of living. Effective energy use in agriculture is one of the conditions for sustainable agricultural production, since it provides financial savings, resource preservation and reduction in air pollution. Application of integrated production methods are recently considered as a means to reduce production costs, efficiently use human labour and other inputs and to protect the environment.
The research study entitled “An economic analysis of energy use in zero budget natural farming, organic farming and conventional farming in rice production in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh state” was taken up with the following objectives.
1. to study the energy use pattern in ZBNF, organic farming and conventional farming in rice production
2. to work out the economics of energy use in ZBNF, organic farming and conventional farming in rice production
3. to analyse the energy use efficiency in ZBNF, organic farming and conventional farming in rice production
4. to identify the factors influencing energy use efficiency in ZBNF, organic farming and conventional farming in rice production.
Multistage sampling technique was adopted for selection of sample at different levels in the present study. In Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam district was selected as rice is cultivated in different farming methods like zero budget natural farming, organic farming and conventional farming. The criteria for selection of mandals and villages
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was the presence of maximum number of farmers belonging the three categories. Four mandals and from each mandal, two villages were selected. From each village, samples were selected proportionately from the three farming categories, making a total sample size to 136. The data pertains to the production year 2017-18. Primary and secondary data was collected and analysed through tabular analysis, costs and returns, data envelopment analysis (DEA) and regression analysis.
The per hectare energy consumption was highest in conventional farming (23055.60 MJ/ha) followed by ZBNF (14260.50 MJ/ha) and organic farming (13978.84 MJ/ha). The fertilizer and manures energy consumed was highest amount of energy in all the three farming methods which accounts 33.01, 63.11 and 66.58 per cent of the total energy consumption in ZBNF, organic and conventional farming respectively.
Under, three farming methods, human energy is the costliest source of energy which accounts to 81.87, 35.01 and 63.02 per cent of the total energy consumption in ZBNF, organic and conventional farming respectively.
The energy use efficiency was highest in organic farming (5.42) followed by ZBNF (4.83) and conventional farming (2.80). The net energy was highest in organic farming (61818.87 MJ ha-1) followed by ZBNF (54645.75 MJ ha-1) and conventional farming (41716.27 MJ ha-1). The specific energy was highest in conventional farming (5.57 MJ kg-1) followed by ZBNF (3.22 MJ kg-1) and organic farming (2.63 MJ kg-1). The energy productivity was highest in organic farming (0.38 kg MJ-1) followed by ZBNF (0.31 kg MJ-1) and conventional farming (0.17 kg MJ-1).
The technical efficiency was highest in organic farming (0.95%) followed by ZBNF (0.92%) and organic farming (0.89%). The total saving energy was highest in conventional farming (939.99 MJ ha-1) followed by ZBNF (498.87 MJ ha-1) and organic farming (389.24 MJ ha-1).
Mechanical energy was positive and significantly contributed to energy use efficiency (EUE) in all the three farming methods. Seed energy was positive and significantly related to EUE in ZBNF and conventional farming.
As the energy use efficiency, technical efficiency in energy terms and net energy were highest in organic farming when compared to ZBNF and conventional farming, organic farming is the best recommended farming method for rice production. To save human energy in the preparation of fertilizers and biocides in ZBNF, the inputs should be made available in the villages through cooperative societies. ZBNF and organic rice production may be certified to help the farmers to earn better prices in the domestic as well as in international markets.
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D5947
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