Upland Rice Farming

The Case of Sarangani Province, Southern Philippines

Abstract

The study was conducted in Sarangani Province to evaluate the upland rice farming in Sarangani Province. There are 275 respondents who came from the eight municipalities of the province. Descriptive statistics, costs and returns analysis, and the Cobb-Douglas production function were used in analyzing the data. In the performance of the cultural management practices of upland rice production, the whole family is involved; for planting and harvesting, both female and male members; for fertilization and pest management, only male members; and lastly, for postharvest activities, only female members. In terms of resource productivity, land is the most significant, followed by labor, in increasing the yield. Pesticide and fertilizer also significantly affected yields. Moreover, the farms have increasing returns to scale, which means that increased input will result in increased output. Since labor, land, fertilizer, and pesticides significantly affected yield, these will become constraints when not properly used. With these findings, it is recommended that research institutions must give more attention to upland rice farming to develop technologies to increase yield. Moreover, a gene bank must be provided to preserve all the upland rice cultivars. The government must also reach out to the farmers to provide credit as well as extension services so that their productivity will be enhanced. Another important factor is providing a good market to them so that they can take advantage of a higher price. Hence, government institutions must work hand in hand for the betterment of the upland rice farmers.