Articles by Aldas Janaiah

Serious concerns have been raised recently about the long-run sustainability of the productivity effects of green revolution technologies in the light of the decelerating trend in the yield growth of rice since the mid-1980s under the irrigated ecosystem. However, it is also important to recognise that the changes in physical yield are not true measures of productivity from an efficiency perspective. The paper addresses the crucial issue of total factor productivity, which is a true measure of the economic efficiency of any technological impact. Results suggest that various modern technologies (such as modern varieties) adopted by the farmers over the period have continued to make a considerable impact on rice productivity growth - as reflected in the increasing trend of TFP growth. However, the rate of increase in TFP growth has started to decelerate under the irrigated ecosystem during the late GR period. This implies that the "level" of productivity impact of the successive generations of modern technologies has apparently been going down. A plateau or deceleration in TFP growth in the progressive areas is not unusual because TFP levels cannot be expected to increase at the same rate during the late GR period as it was during the early GR period.

The 1990s witnessed a significant deceleration in growth of rice productivity. The productivity potential of the existing modern rice varieties is getting exhausted especially under irrigated environments. This raises a serious concern about Asia's ability to sustain its food security in the 21st century. To find solutions to reverse this trend in irrigated systems, and raise yield levels in rain-fed areas, many public sector R and D institutions across Asia have invested huge public resources to explore new frontiers of rice science. However, many farmers, who grew hybrid rice initially, have started dropping out from hybrid rice cultivation. Can the currently available hybrid rice technology sustain productivity growth in the Asian tropics? Why has it not been possible to replicate in the Asian tropics China's success with hybrid rice? The paper provides a synthesis of major findings of a multi-country evaluation of farmers' experiences with the adoption of hybrid rice varieties.

Hybrid rice cultivation has not increased significantly in Karnataka since the introduction of hybrids in the state in the mid-1990s. This study focuses on the profitability aspects of hybrid rice cultivation based on farmers' experiences during the 2000-01 crop year. Hybrid rice was found to be higher yielding but less profitable than existing high-yielding varieties. The paper provides reasons for lower profitability and explains the constraints in hybrid rice expansion based on farm-level data.

Nine years after release of the first rice hybrid, its adoption rate in Tamil Nadu was found to be too meagre and scattered to measure its impact. The present study aimed at documenting farm-level insights into why hybrid rice has not made a dent on the rice sector in Tamil Nadu. Results show that there was not much progress made over the past decade in terms of developing farmer-acceptable rice hybrids and achieving the higher yield gains through hybrid rice under farmers' field condition in Tamil Nadu.