Farm management studies, MADA-TARC cooperative study, Pilot Project ACRBD 4 Muda Irrigation Scheme

Country
Malaysia
Technical bulletin of the Tropical Agriculture Research Center
ISSN 03889394
NII recode ID (NCID) AA00857848
Full text
YAMASHITA, M., WONG H. S. and JEGATHEESAN, S., 1981. Farm Management Study, MADA-TARC Cooperative Study, Pilot Project ACRBD 4 Muda Irrigation Scheme
Tech. Bull. Trop. Agr. Res. Center, Japan No.14
(1) The pilot project area, selected as the object of the study is situated 12 miles to the north of Alor Setar. The total area covers 760 ha of which 705 ha consist of paddy fields.
The number of farmers cultivating the land within the project area totals 416, but their residences are located mostly outside the area. Farm lots in the project area total 323, and their size is relatively large, being more than 2 ha. The farm lots belonging to single owners account for more than 50% of the total.
The size of a farm in the area is approximately 1.8 ha, being larger than the average farm size of 1.6 ha in the whole Muda area. In the area, 69% of the paddy fields are cultivated by tenants, and the rented land includes 22.5% of semi-owned land in the form of B.S.T.S. and pesaka.
(2) The traditional land alienation and the existing land tenure system do not define precisely the relationship between the owner and the operator in the farm lots. On the other hand, the traditional method of registration of land for inheritance clearly defines the right of cultivation from ownership whereas any transaction or sale of land is difficult.
In spite of the difficulties of transaction of land ownership, the land cultivation right is transferred smoothly among farmers. The mobility and flexibility of the cultivation right can be considered as a constraint to the adoption by the farmers of improved cultural methods and to the stimulation of their willingness to carry on farming.
(3) There are two sources of labour supply in the area: family labour and other agricultural labour. The family labour supply is very stable while the seasonal labour supply from outside has dramatically decreased due to the introduction of harvesting machines.
The labour input for farming was 989 man hours per ha per year, 92% of which being spent for paddy production in the area. Farmer's working days in the area numbered 134 days/annum, of which 51% were for harvesting and 25% for transplanting. Both harvesting and transplanting activities are characterized by seasonal and intensive labour inputs.
Therefore, the farmers often face seasonal labour shortage. Recently mechanisation for harvesting has been disseminated rapidly in the area and it has contributed to the elimination of the seasonal labour shortage. Serious labour constraints in the area are now represented by a reluctance to carry on farming, with the development of the rural areas and the spread of education.
Labour utilisation pattern in the area is similar basically too, but slightly differs from that in the whole Muda area, that is transplanting works depend mostly on the derau system while in the whole Muda area they depend on the upah system.
Labour shortage problem in the area arises from seasonal variation in labour input and to alleviate this problem various measures including staggering of planting, mechanisation, cooperative labour utilisation are being considered. The introduction of harvesting machines has brought about a remarkable change in labour utililsation since 1976.
(4) Farm mechanisation in the Muda area has started before double cropping with the use of the four wheel tractor for land preparation, i.e. there is no causal relationship between double cropping and farm mechanisation. However, undoubtedly the tractorization of land preparation has helped to accelerate double cropping and to ease the problem of labour peak demand. Since around 1976 combine harvesters began to spread in the area on a commercial basis. They were introduced by private contractors with a motivation of pure profit. They were accepted by the farmers in the area because of their efficiency, economy and convenience rather than as a result of shortage of labour.
Overseas farm machinery agents, harvest contractors and brokers in the area have contributed to the dissemination of mechanisation of harvesting. Achievement ratio of mechanisation in the area was 109% for land preparation works, 35% for harvesting in the off season and 82% in the main season of 1979 respectively. However the ratio for harvesting varies from region to region and depends on the size of the farm.
Although the farming practices and farm management in the area become influenced by tractorization and harvesting mechanisation, the effect of the latter is rather different from that of the former. Tractorization as a substitute for buffaloes, has had little influence on farm income formation and labour input pattern while the mechanisation of harvesting has directly influenced them and, as a result, the redistribution of income among the farmers has changed. Besides, surplus labour problem began to occur in the small size farms.
(5) The calendar for double cropping in the area still remains unstable and variable, nowadays, 10 years after the initiation of double cropping. Although most of the farming practices have been carried out with traditional methods as in the single cropping period, new technology is applied to fit to double cropping; a) all the farmers in the area grow new varieties suitable for double cropping instead of the traditional and local varieties and they prefer to introduce the newest varieties into the area every season. b) the amount of fertiliser (nitrogen) and other chemicals applied by the farmers has increased i.e. 63kg for the off season and 76kg for the main season per ha, respectively. On the other hand farmers have a poor knowledge of the period suitable for application. c) the traditional harvesting has been changed into a mechanised one with the use of the combine harvester. About 70% of the area was harvested by machine in 1979, while the transplanting works in the area are still carried out by hand.
In the estimation of the paddy yield, the amounts of guni reported by the sampled farmers and the deduction rate of the paddy which was obtained from their sales receipts provided from brokers were used.
The deduction rate - (gross weight-net weight)/gross weight-was estimated at 84.6% for the off season and 84.8% for the main season of 1979. Estimated paddy yield in the area accounted for 3.65 tons in the off season and 4.12 tons in the main season.
The factors influencing paddy yield level seem to be land tenure, age and sex of the farmers, paddy variety employed, and timing of transplanting, on the basis of the farm management surveys carried out in the area. Besides, the relative amount of fertiliser applied also influenced the increase of the yield. On the other hand it seems that there is no relationship between the period of application of fertiliser and yield.
It is expected that in the area the yield may increase by about 30% when the Muda II project is achieved, even though the projected figures estimated at 20-24% the rate of increase. However suitable land consolidation, improved water management and new technologies to increase the yield in the area should be promoted because the yield varies from field to field.
(6) Agricultural receipts per farm in the study area were higher than in the whole Muda area due to the larger farm size and higher paddy yields. Among the total agricultural expenditure the study area had 37% of the total agricultural receipts while the whole Muda area had 40% of them, due to the smaller labour charge expenditure caused dy the greater incidence of derau, labour system in transplanting. The contribution to lease and contractor charges became, however, higher in the study area due to the rapid spread of harvesting machines. The net agricultural income by farm size was the highest in the 5-10 relong* category. The income ratio was 63.4% on the average while in the whole Muda it was 61.0%. The production cost of paddy in the area was higher than in the whole Muda area and returns from paddy production in the study area totalled M$325 per relong while M$265 in the Muda area. However the final rate of returns was almost the same as in the Muda area.
The household expenditure of the family farm in the area which amounted to M$1.5 per capita per day including home consumption was almost the same as in the whole Muda area in 1973. The breakdown of the expenditure was 40% for food, 23% for domestic goods, 8% for education and 18% for eating and drinking out and entertainment. Engel's coefficient was 0.46 on the average and a poor family spent a larger proportion of the income for food in accordance with Engel's law.
The agricultural, household and surplus income of the family farm in the area was controlled by the farm size in accordance with the concept of economies of scale or size. However, as far as the agricultural income per unit area was concerned, the highest income corresponded to the lower medium size farm category (5-10 relongs) followed by the large farm, the upper medium and the small farm. Therefore a plot type of viable farm could be found in the lower medium size category.
With regard to the surplus income per capita, the difference among farm sizes was conspicuous. The highest income was recorded by the large family farm (M$115 per capita per annum) while for the small family farm the income was only M$15. On an average, the household income per capita per annum was M$1,231, equivalent to US$586 in 1979/80.
National average income per capita that was US$1,030 in 1978 is projected to increase to US$1,530 in 1988. Assuming the same rate of growth as national average, the income in the study area should rise to US$867 in 1988. Even if the study area achieves the target of 30% yield increase, the relative income position of the family in the area is likely to deteriorate without price support or subsidy policies for paddy production. * 1 relong=0.287ha
Date of issued
Creator Masanobu Yamashita Wong Hin Soon S. Jegatheesan
Publisher Tropical Agriculture Research Center
Volume 14
spage 1
epage 101
Language eng

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