Recommendations to convert from conventional to organic rice production in the Mekong Delta: Vinh Long province case study and policy implications

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the current production situation and estimate the financial efficiency of conventional and organic rice production in Vinh Long province. The Cobb-Douglas random profit margin function using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) was employed to identify the determinants affecting the standardized profitability of the rice production using. Besides, the Binary Logistic model also identifies factors that influence the decision to convert from traditional to organic rice production. The results find that, although there are some challenges such as high labor cost and high spending for biological fertilizer accounting about 50% of the total cost, the organic production still achieve about 1.4 million VND/1,000m2 which is equivalent to traditional rice production because of the high selling price and consumption contract. This research also reveals that households with large production areas intend to convert to organic production, while household head age and those with incomes from other sources are the main barriers for farmers to switch to organic rice production.

Keywords

• chuyển đổi
• hiệu quả tài chính
• lúa hữu cơ
• vĩnh long