IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

Research article
erdComparative Study on 3 Rice Farming Systems:
Conventional, Partially Organic, and Organic Farming,
Case Study in Prey Kabbas District, Takeo, Cambodia
SEREIROTH BUNTHAN*
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan
Email: bunthan.sereiroth@yahoo.com

YAMADA RYUICHI
Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies,Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan
Received 15 December 2018

Accepted 15 August 2019(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Sustainable agriculture is an integrated farming system of plant and animal
production practices with site-specific applications that can maintain over the long term. Itis both environmentally sustainable and also can generate several impacts on rural society.
Unfortunately, the development of sustainable farming in Cambodia is still limited, and inits early stages. Despite sustainably farming has the potential for targeting niche markets
and ensure higher incomes, it is reported that the number of farmers choose to do or revert
to produce conventional rice farming instead. The application of chemicals in conventional
agriculture can generate high productivity; however, the intensive use of the chemical has
led to the destruction of soil and water resources. By observing these matters, this study
aims to examine the differences in characteristics and profitability between 3 farming
systems: conventional, partially organic, and organic rice farming, and to identify impacts
from sustainable farming to rice farmers. The present study is based on the survey
conducted in Prey Kabbas District, Takeo province, in 2018. In this study, a random
sampling method was applied, and 75 rice farmers were interviewed. Among the samples,
30 farmers practiced conventional rice farming, and others 45 farmers practiced sustainable
rice farming (25 adopted partially organic, and 20 farmers adopted organic rice farming).
The findings showed that despite the production costs of organic rice farming is higher,organic farmers still ensure higher yield and generate better profit. Both of sustainable rice
farming systems also found to benefit farmers with both social and human impacts.
Nevertheless, there are some constraints inhered these rice farming in this study area, suchas labor shortage, lack of organic materials, and market instability. There are needs forfarmers, supported institutes, consumers to work together to promote organic rice farmingin the study area.
Keywords conventional rice, organic rice, partially organic rice, profitability, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Food is crucial to human life. The rapid growth of populations, which in turn entails increased
demand for food, has led to changes in agricultural systems. With respect to Cambodian agriculture,
more Cambodian farmers are in the midst of transition from traditional subsistent to modern
commercial ones (Slayton et al., 2015). Modern agriculture systems have been practiced in manycountries, including Cambodia, with the aim of poverty alleviation, food security, and increasingcompetitiveness. Although conventional agriculture has many large-scale positive effects, such as
high yields in crops and increases food supply through the adoption of new technologies. The
intensive use of chemical and mechanization has led to the destruction of the soil and water
resources. It has damaged the critical supporting ecosystems (OECD, 2001).

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

Cambodia is one of the countries in Southeast Asia that is profoundly affected by the impactsof climate change, from the enormous floods in 2011 to the prolonged droughts in 2016.
Cambodian farmers have been increasingly exposed to the adverse effects of climate-related risks,both in terms of crop growth and pest and disease outbreak. It is recommended by Slayton et al.
(2015) to strengthen sustainable agriculture for future agriculture growth in Cambodia. However,there is still much work that needs to be done in promoting sustainable agricultural practices toCambodian farmers. Improper and excessive use of fertilizer is still one of the major agriculturalissues in the country. Farmers apply pesticides that are often not safe or counterfeit. Aside frombeing an unnecessary expense, this also results in an opposite outcome, which is the reinforcementof pest outbreaks by increasing pest resistance.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study is to grasp the differences in characteristics and economic performancesof 3 farming systems in the study area: conventional, partially organic, and organic farming, and toidentify the impacts of sustainable agriculture toward farmers in Prey Kabbas District, Takeo,Cambodia.
METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted in Prey Kabbas District, Takeo province. This province classified as oneof the most significant rice-producing areas in Cambodia. Eighty-three percent of the population isengaged in this sector. However, this research site is regarded as low diversification in farming
systems, and it is easy to prone to a natural disaster such as drought and flood every year. With
such a poor farming condition, farmers in the research site have gradually shifted towardsustainable farming with the help from the government and Non-Profit Organization (Prey Kabbas
district report, 2014).
This study is based mostly on primary data collected through direct interviewing with rice
farmers in the district. Interviewed farmers were selected by random sampling method. The survey
was conducted from August to September 2018 (20 days). Totally 75 rice farmers were interviewed
and categorized into three groups: group A (conventional farmers- 30 respondents) and a group offarmers who practiced sustainably adopted rice farming: group B (partially organic farmers- 25respondents) and group C (organic farmers- 20 respondents). The partially organic farmers refer toa group of farmers who used at least 50 percent of organic material in rice farming, and organic
farmers refer to a group of farmers who applied only organic material in rice farming.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Socio-Economic Characteristics of Studied Farmers
Table 1 Socio-economic characteristics of sustainable and conventional rice farmers

Source: Field survey in 2018
*Indicates statistical significance at 0.05 levelⒸ ISERD55

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

The basic features of interviewed farmers are presented in Table 1. Table 1 showed that farmers ofgroups B and C had more extended education compare to farmers in group A, although it is not
significantly different. This indicated that education encourages farmers to adopt a new farming
system while considering the environment and agricultural production in the long term. However,concerning family size and owned and planted areas, there was no significant difference among
these 3 group farmers.
Total Production Cost of Rice Farming
Table 2 Total production cost of three farming systems

Source: Field survey in 2018
*Indicates statistical significance at 0.05 level

Unit: USD/haIt found that in the study areas, there were three different types of rice farming existed and that thesystems differed much in the input use among them. Thus, in the analysis of costs and returns ofrice farming, diversified aspects among three farming systems should be full took into account.
Concerning the cost analysis, this study followed the method of Slayton et al. (2015). The
study calculated the cost not only of cash payment, but also imputed costs such as cost of organic
fertilizer, family labor costs, cost of owned land, and depreciation of farm assets. To check thesignificance of differences in cost items between farming systems, T-test with two-sampledassuming unequaled variances is applied in this study as well.
As shown in Table 2, the total production cost of organic farming per ha was higher thanconventional and partially organic farming in the study area. Cost comprised both cash and noncash costs, based on the result of the survey; cash costs were the ones that directly affected thefarmers’ financial conditions. High cash costs could disrupt farm production activities and put
farmers in debt. Although the overall total costs of organic rice were higher, it is also clearly shownthat organic rice farming initially entailed similar cash costs to the conventional and partiallyorganic rice farming in the study area.
Economic Returns of Rice Farming
Regarding economic returns, several indicators, such as gross margin, total cash income, and net
profit of each rice farming type, are examined in this study. Gross margin obtained by deducting
gross revenue, intermediate inputs, and hired labor. Total cash income calculated by subtractingtotal cash expenses from gross revenue. Finally, net profit calculated by deducting costs of familyⒸ ISERD56

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labor, costs of owned land, and depreciation cost from gross margin. In addition, T-test analysis
with two-sampled assuming unequal variances was applied in this study as well.
Table 3 showed the comparison of cost and returns per hectare among conventional andsustainable rice farming in the study area. The production of organic rice was significantly more
profitable than conventional rice farming in terms of gross margin and total cash income. However,when total net profit was analyzed, the result showed conventional, partially organic, and organic
rice farming was not significantly different. This indicated that whatever model used that excluded
non-cash cost, organic farming in the study area was the most profitable. It is understandable sinceorganic farming in the study area obtained higher yield and premium price compare to conventional
and partially organic rice. Although partially organic rice practiced in consideration of environmentand health purposes, however, the average price of partially organic rice was not significantly
different from conventional rice, which resulted in less profitable than organic rice farming.
As mentioned earlier, whenever non-cash expense considered in this study, organic rice was
not significantly the most profitable one among groups. In general, most organic rice farmers usedtheir on-farm resources to do organic farming; however, in this specific study area, farmers tended
to purchase lots of animal manure from farmers from other villages. Higher organic fertilizer andfamily labor costs resulted in less total net profit in comparison to conventional and partiallyorganic farming. This result also realized the reason behind the concerns of farmers to continue
producing the organic products in the study area.
Table 3 Net profit of three farming systems

Source: Field survey in 2018
*Indicates statistical significance at 0.05 level

Unit: USD/ha

Impacts and Constraints of Sustainable Rice Farming
Understanding the considerable differences in costs and returns between conventional andsustainable rice farming in the study area, it is also necessary to examine the impacts andconstraints from adopting these farming systems to farmers. The distribution of respondents’opinions and benefits they received is explained mainly in the descriptive analysis.
Social Impact
Farmer group participation: Based on the survey, it was seen that only 30 percent of
conventional farmers were able to participate in farmer groups since most of them were seen toengage in some other off-farm works heavily. On the other hand, organic and partially organic
farmers were instead more focus on on-farm work. They found to have some additional spare time
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were already recognized and able to generate profit, such as selling their own made livestock feeds,organic rice wine, seeds, and fertilizers to both inside and outside the village. Participation infarmer group activities is not only providing them financial benefits to farmers, but things such aslabor sharing, farming information, idea sharing, updating marketing news, and possible sources offunds are provided while joining the group as well.
Relationship establishment: Two kinds of relationships were found: (i) direct relationship and (ii)indirect relationship. With respect to the direct relationship, the connection within the farmers’
families is observed. From the survey, within conventional farmers, men mainly took care of mostof all the farming work, while women took care of small activities such as seeding, weeding, andpost-harvest tasks. Most children and women found to engage more in off-farm jobs. For farmers
who practiced sustainable farming, on the other hand, spouses found to work mainly on farmland,and due to the additional labor required, children and wives also took a big part in farming
activities as well. This suggesting that a closer family relationship of organic farmers is observed
during their work, which also instills agricultural loyalty in the children.
The Indirect relationship between farmers who practice sustainable farming and consumer
also existed. Farmers gather together once a month and share their monthly results, update
marketing news from dealers, and sharing new sustainable farming knowledge and information.
This type of relationship plays a crucial role in strengthening the promotion of organic agriculturein the study area, considering external factors, such as consumer demand, influence thedevelopment of agricultural systems.
Human Impact
Knowledge development on sustainable farming: Based on the survey, organic farmers obtained
their knowledge of sustainable farming techniques and skills through joining agriculturalcooperatives. Certain developments, however, have been adopted by organic farmers through aprocess of combing local culture and recent findings, to respond to the requirements of agricultural
production and environmental conditions. Tables 4 and 5 showed the result estimation of multiple
comparison tests between conventional and partially organic farmers regarding their awareness ofsustainable farming knowledge. The result implied that partially organic farmers are significantly
aware of organic farming and some local knowledge related to a safe way to use agrochemical
products.
Table 5 Level of awareness of safety
use of agrochemical

Table 4 Level of awareness of organic
farming technique

Constraints on Organic Rice Farming
The constraints of organic farming in the study can classify into five categories: (i) lack of organic
material, (ii) labor shortage, (iii) long growing period, (iv) low yield, and (v) market instability. As
illustrated in Fig. 1, farmers believed that the labor shortage was the main reason that hinders themfrom adopting organic farming. This is understandable since organic farming spent more time ontransplanting and weed management activity, which resulted in higher numbers of labors. In
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has already existed in the study area. Lack of organic material was also mentioned as theconstraints since most of the farmers in the study are aging, and they found it hard to find or collectthe organic materials around their village. As mentioned, farmers tended to purchase lots of animal
manure from other farmers even though the price of the animal manure was much higher comparedto the inorganic fertilizer.
The long growing period and market instability were concerned by studied farmers as well.
They noted that organic farming had a more prolonged production stage, which hindered themfrom producing rice more than once in a year. Furthermore, most conventional farmers were notmembers of any organic farmer group, so it was hard for them to find a market for organic productswith the premium price.

Fig. 1 Farmers’ perception of constraints
toward organic rice farming
Source: Field survey in 2018

CONCLUSION
The result of the analysis of production costs and returns revealed that cost indicators, such as grossmargin and total cash income, reported that organic farming received higher income and more
profitable from the economic viewpoint in comparison to conventional and partially organic
farming. Moreover, sustainable farming systems such as partially organic and organic also
benefited farmers in the study area to establish relationships within their family, among farmers
and consumers, aware of the endangerment of agrochemical products to society and environment,
and provide the opportunity to share and discuss knowledge and information. Unfortunately,
constraints such as labor shortage and lack of organic material had hinder farmers from adopting
sustainable farming in the study area. To respond to these matters, two significant issues are neededto address in order to improve the organic farming in the study area: (i) providing detailed training
programs more widely especially to young farmers, and (ii) introducing farmers to the integrated
farming system to help them minimize production cost, improve quality and quantity of soil andfood produced, and increase cash income.
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