Determinants of Rice Seed Yield Sample Clauses

Determinants of Rice Seed Yield. Finally, we look at the determinants of yields (see Table 3.42). Interestingly, the only variable significant at 90 percent confidence interval or higher is membership to GPS. We have seen that for irrigated rice, GPS farmers have higher yields than PSI farmers (see tables 37-39). This might be a reflection of better agronomic practices by GPS farmers or better land quality. The fact that fertilizer use is higher among GPS farmers than among PSI farmers suggests the possibility of better agronomic practices. With respect to land quality, we cannot assume any bias in the way the data have been collected. Unfortunately, the data set does not include land quality indicators so we cannot assess the importance of this factor. Noteworthy is the lack of significance in factors such as prices, extension, distance to markets, and education. This does not mean that these variables are not important determinants of yield. Rather, they are an indication of the very tentative nature of the analysis, as it was conducted with a limited number of observations. Table 3.42–Determinants of yield in rice seed production Beta Coefficient Standard Error t-Statistic Significance (Constant) -864.54 2894.89 -0.30 0.77 Rice Price 0.44 0.61 0.71 0.48 Fertilizer Price -0.58 0.56 -1.04 0.30 Purchase Price 1.30 0.96 1.36 0.18 Age of Farmer 24.29 15.06 1.61 0.12 Number of Dependents -61.39 87.38 -0.70 0.49 Number of Adults -15.43 87.69 -0.18 0.86 Education Level 81.27 88.72 0.92 0.37 Gender of Farmer -674.32 514.92 -1.31 0.20 Year of Farm Creation 1.13 13.43 0.08 0.93 Member of GPS 483.11 277.95 1.74 0.09 Number of Extension Visits -40.54 38.27 -1.06 0.30 Access to Credit -139.26 357.42 -0.39 0.70 Irrigation Expenditure 0.00 0.00 0.10 0.92 Area of Irrigated Rice 1.00 76.74 0.01 0.99 Area of Rain-Fed Rice 49.21 102.45 0.48 0.63 Number of Livestock -5.95 3.85 -1.55 0.13 Dist. to Input Market -27.44 18.68 -1.47 0.15 Dist. to Output Market -8.70 21.63 -0.40 0.69 R1 113.72 570.45 0.20 0.84 R3 2247.89 1017.50 2.21 0.03 R4 563.75 814.25 0.69 0.49 R5 725.83 906.08 0.80 0.43 The regression results can be summed up as follows. The determinants of production were found to be age, access to credit, and area of poorly irrigated land. Yields were influenced only by membership to a GPS. The implication is that other factors of a more technological nature, such as seed variety, mode of irrigation, or agronomic practices may be even more important.