TY  - BOOK
AU  - Nanda Baiju
AU  - Prema, A (Guide)
TI  - Economic analysis of rice based integrated farming system models in Kuttanad
U1  - 630.33 
PY  - 2021///
CY  - Vellanikkara
PB  - Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture 
KW  - Agricultural Economics
KW  - Rice
KW  - Farming system
KW  - Economic analysis
KW  - Cost distribution
N1  - M Sc
N2  - In any developing economy, in order to attain pro-poor growth and economic 
development, it is necessary that the agriculture sector flourishes, along with 
improvement in farmers’ income. According to Agricultural Census of 2015-16, the 
average operational land holding in Kerala was found to be 0.18 ha. Hence, the scope of 
horizontal expansion is limited and the only possible alternative is vertical expansion. 
Integrated Farming System (IFS) is a resource management strategy that ensures year 
round income to the farm families with the integration of appropriate subsidiary 
enterprises. It helps in meeting the diverse requirements of the farm household, ensures 
employment generation and sustainable livelihood of small and marginal farmers along 
with minimizing the risk associated with monocropping.
Rice farmers in Kuttanad have taken up subsidiary enterprises like duckery, fish, 
dairy and poultry to ensure additional returns. The different IFS models identified 
among the 100 sample farmers from the study area were Rice+ Duckery, Rice+ Fish, 
Rice+ Dairy, Rice- Fish sequential farming, Rice+ Fish+ Poultry, Rice+ Fish+ Duckery, 
Rice+ Fish+ Dairy, Rice+ Fish+ Poultry+ Duckery, Rice+ Dairy+ Poultry, Rice+ 
Dairy+ Fodder and Rice+ Banana+ Dairy+ Duckery. The predominant models in the 
study area were Rice+ Duckery which was followed by Rice+ Fish and Rice+ Fish+ 
Poultry+ Duckery. The economic analysis of the rice based IFS models were carried out 
to identify the most profitable models. It was observed that fish and duckery enterprises 
were profitably integrated with rice among the farmers in Kuttanad. The model Rice+ 
Fish and Rice+ Fish+ Duckery showed a high B-C ratio of 2.52 at Cost A1. Rice+ 
Duckery was the next most profitable model at a B-C ratio of 2.42. At Cost C, Rice+ 
Fish showed the highest B-C ratio of 1.45 followed by Rice+ Duckery and Rice+ Fish+ 
Duckery at B-C ratios 1.32 and 1.26 respectively. The models involving dairy showed 
significantly lower B-C ratios attributing to the labour intensive nature of the enterprise 
and high cost of dairy concentrates. Rice–Fish sequential farming showed highest 
employment generation of 348 Person Days/yr. Economic sustainability of the IFS 
models were analysed using Sustainable Value Index (SVI) and System Economic 
Efficiency (SEE). The highest economic sustainability was obtained for the model
i
Rice+ Banana+ Dairy+ Duckery at an SVI of 0.73 and SEE of ₹1133/day and the lowest 
was observed for the model Rice+ Dairy+ Poultry at SVI and SEE of -0.14 and
₹147/day respectively. Analysing the resource use efficiency of rice under IFS in 
Kuttanad revealed that the wetland area was underutilized, and hired human labour was 
over utilized.
The rice based IFS model developed by The Integrated Farming System 
Research Station, Karamana was analysed for its profitability. The model included 
dairy, duckery, fish, vegetable cultivation on the dykes and allied activities like 
vermicomposting. The model was found to be profitable at a discounted B-C ratio of 
1.03, NPW of ₹47,617 and IRR of 20 percent. Components of the model like cultivation 
of vegetables on dykes and construction of duck shelter over the fish pond could be well 
adopted by farmers in Kuttanad.
Constraints in adoption of the IFS models by the farmers were studied using the 
Garrett ranking technique and the agreement between the respondents in ranking the 
constraints was studied using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. The most important 
constraint that prevents farmers from adoption of the IFS models was unfavourable 
weather conditions. This corresponded to the fact that the farmers in Kuttanad face 
severe hardships as the area gets flooded during the monsoon making it difficult for 
them to raise cattle, poultry and duckery. Although farmers have come up with coping 
strategies like constructing cattle shed on raised platforms, these have not received 
widespread acceptance. The other important constraints were labour scarcity, avian 
diseases, soil acidity and salinity, high input cost, crop pests and diseases, lack of 
technical knowledge, lack of proper extension support, lack of improved variety/breeds 
and poor storage facilities. The Kendall’s W statistic of 0.63 indicated that there was 
general agreement between the farmers in ranking the constraints.
Increasing the awareness of the farmers regarding the benefits of IFS through 
trainings, capacity building programmes for a more skilled labour force, localised 
weather forecasting and warning systems, strengthening of risk minimising strategies 
like insuring the crops and livestock and support for taking up allied activities like 
mushroom cultivation have been suggested
UR  - https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810190242
ER  -