Resource use and Profit Function Estimation of Swampland Rice Farming in South Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

We report here the analysis of factors those influence the production and profitability of swampland rice farming in South Kalimantan Indonesia. Four sub-districts which represented 2 major swamp agroecology (tidal and monotonous swamp) were purposively selected. Two analyses, i.e., stochastic frontier production function and Cob-Douglas profit function unit-output-price alighted from Cob-Douglas production function were applied to investigate the factors affecting the resource use and profit of swampland rice farming. We found that rice production is significantly positive affected by seed, fertilizer, and labour. In line with that, the increase of input price leads to a decrease in farmer profits, the lower the welfare level of the farmers. The prices in the study area are unstable due to the lack of transport infrastructure. We suggest the improvement of transport infrastructure is needed to assure farmer welfare and agricultural development. The government assistance in term of credit provision and machinery access is expected.