Farmers in these regions have developed effective rice-growing methods without formal irrigation investments. About 1000 ha are under double-cropped irrigated production. Since then, problems with management, shortage of investment capital for equipment, increasing weed problems, and loss of level fields have become increasingly serious. The capital-intensive inputs such as machinery and agricultural chemicals are no longer economical at today's rice prices. The constraints experienced by family farmers are somewhat different from those affecting the state farm sector.
Investments are essentially zero and most farmers use traditional varieties.
Most farms do not have irrigation water on demand, and fields are not leveled. Such farms often have upland, hydromorphic, and flooded conditions within a 2-ha area, and these conditions may vary from one area to another during the season. Hand hoes are the most common cultivation tools, with a few farms using ox-drawn plows or rented tractors. Weed competition is consequently very serious, and that, combined with drought risk, means that responses to higher inputs, such as modern varieties and fertilizer, are unreliable. Losses from damage by wandering stock, game animals, rats, and birds are more serious than losses from diseases and insect pests, which tend to increase with intensification of the rice system.