Impact of Hybrid Rice Cultivation on Farmers’ Livelihood in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

This study explores new varieties of Hybrid rice and its impact on overall production and productivity in Tamil Nadu. The data for this study have been collected from two districts, namely Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur of Tamil Nadu. These districts are harvesting relatively higher concentration of hybrid rice within the group of National Food Security Mission districts in Tamil Nadu. In each of the districts of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, two representative blocks, namely, Kuttalam and Mayiladuthurai and Needamangalam and Valangaiman were taken, respectively, and within each block two villages were selected. After introduction of hybrid rice technology since 1994, there has been slow development in that technology in Tamil Nadu, mainly because of the unawareness of the benefits of the hybrid rice, and the farmers mainly use the high yielding variety (HYVs) because of cost-effectiveness. Even after two decades, the hybrid rice technology did not spread all over Tamil Nadu due to lukewarm policies of the government, unfamiliarity with the technology and high cost of cultivation and shortage of labour force. Therefore, the farmers did not shift their cropping pattern from HYVs into hybrid rice technology.