Presented by IWMI's Mohamed Aheeyar at the INWEFP (The International Network for Water and Environment in the Paddy Field) 2015 Symposium held on November 3, 2015, in Negombo, Sri Lanka.

1. Photo:DavidMolden/IWMI
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Technical Efficiency of
Paddy Cultivation in
Anicut Schemes in the
Walawe Basin
Mohamed Aheeyar
Thilani Padmajani

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Background
Photos: Mohamed Aheeyar / IWMI

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Statistics
Sri Lanka
• Total anicuts- 12,950
• Command area- 98,416 ha
• Famer families- 333,400
• Average land holding- 0.3 ha

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Walawe Basin
• No. of Anicuts- 750
• Command area-
6550 ha
• Famer families-
20,000

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Distribution of Anicuts by command area and number of
farmers
141
36
21
7 7 8
4 2
168
143
67
42
16
24
20
25
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-35 36-50 >50
NO.OFANICUTS
COMMAND AREA (AC)
Badulla Ratnapura
131
45
16
10 9
5 5
3 2
0 0
87
112
91
52
27
24
34
17
20
12
22
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
<5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-40 41-50 51-75 76-100 100<
No.ofAnicuts
No. of farmers
Badulla Ratnapura

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• Rice cultivation- principal agricultural
activity
• Major problem – low yield and high yield
variation
– One metric tonne lower than the yield of major
irrigation
– Average yield varies- 890-1575kg/ac in
Walawe basin
• Anicut systems are most vulnerable to the
adverse impacts of climate change- depend on
local rainfall and no storage structures

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Technical Efficiency
• Farm’s ability to achieve the maximum
output for a given set of inputs and
technology
• If available technologies are inefficiently
used in the cultivation process, the use of
prevailing technologies is more cost
effective than investing in new
technologies
• Efficiency lead to substantial resource
saving

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Objectives
• Measure technical efficiency in rice
farming and identify its determinants
• Assess the causes of inefficiency
• propose recommendations to improve the
resource use efficiency and productivity

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Methodology
• Stochastic production function and inefficiency
effect model
• Data-primary source from following schemes
District ADC Name of the Scheme Population Sample
Badulla Nikapotha Nikapotha Maha 40 23
Haldumulla Kurundugas Ara 41 30
Udahawela Amuna 50 31
Pambahinna Pambahinna Maha 92 30
Ratnapura Godakawela Bogoda ella Amuna 60 24
Kolonna Hatharaliyadda 84 24

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Model
• The basic model for S F Function;
• Yi = f (Xi; β) + Vi - Ui
• Where,
– Yi is output or production of the ith farm
– Xi is vector of input quantities used by the ith
farm
– Vi is a symmetric error
– Ui is a non- negative random variable
representing inefficiency

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Estimation procedure
• lnYi = β0 + β1lnx1 + β2lnx2 + β3lnx3 + β4lnx4+
β5lnx5+ β6lnx6+ β7lnx7+ β8lnx8+ (Vi - Ui)
• The function was applied with eight independent
input variables in this study
Y =yieldineachfarm(kg/ac)
x1 = seedrate(kg/ac)
x2 =inorganicfertilizer(kg/ac)
x3 =organicfertilizer(kg/ac)
x4 =familylabour(mandays)
x5 =hiredlabour(mandays)
x6 =machineryservices(Rs)
x7 =landextent(acres)
x8 =agrochemicals(Rs)

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Results
• Efficiency Estimates
Parameters Ratnapura Badulla
Coefficient SE t-ratio Coefficient SE t-ratio
222
vu   0.154 0.029 5.320*
0.207 0.047 4.365*
γ
= 2
u / 2
 0.99 0.000 1.892E+5*
0.99 0.000 1.482E+7*
Log likelihood 22.645 3.521
LR test 39.559 25.489
Mean Technical
Efficiency 74.73% 65.9%
Maximum efficiency 99.99% 99.93%
Minimum efficiency 26.5% 25.9%

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Frequency Distribution of Technical Efficiency
Technical efficiency level % of Farmers
Badulla Ratnapura
<30 6 1
30-50 22 5
50-70 34 33
70-90 22 38
>90 16 23

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Factors affecting the technical efficiency
Badulla
• Seed rate and family labour – negatively
significant
• Use of poor quality seed paddy
• Possibility of reducing family labor without
affecting production levels

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Ratnapura
• Machinery services and organic fertilizers
have negatively significant relation
• Land size, pesticide cost, family labour
have positively significant relationship

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Causes of Inefficiency
Badulla
• Type of agricultural employment (-), land
size (+) and selection behavior of short
duration variety (-)
Ratnapura
• Selection behavior of short duration variety
(-), farmer age (-), and location of farm plot
along the channel (-)

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Concluding Remarks
• Rice farmers in the Anicut irrigation schemes
exhibiting technical inefficiency in using the
productive resources
• The average TE of paddy farming in Badulla
and Ratnapura Districts - 65.9% and 74.73%,
• or causing potential production losses of
34.1% and 25.27%.
• Or average farm level output can further
increase by 34.1% and 25.7% in the
respective districts without changing the
existing input level and technology

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• Existing low level of technical efficiency is
due to institutional gaps
• Education, training and building capacity
of the farmers with new innovations
• Provision of quality seed paddy of short
duration varieties to enhance the TE and
productivity.

19. Thank you very much