Technical efficiency of combine harvester user boro rice farmers in Haor ecosystem of Bangladesh

Rice Combine Harvester (RCH) has a crucial role in accelerating the rice production and technical efficiency of rice farmers around the world through reducing the harvesting time and effort. This study aimed to estimate the technical efficiency (TE) of RCH user boro rice farmers and to determine the factors affecting their technical inefficiency level. For this study, primary data were collected from 204 randomly selected RCH user boro rice farmers of haor ecosystem of Bangladesh in May to June 2023. The farm-level TE scores were estimated using the Stochastic Production Frontier approach. The return from rice production was positively influenced by the inputs like labor, seed, MoP fertilizer, and harvesting cost, whereas land preparation, TSP fertilizer, and irrigation cost had the reverse influence. The mean technical efficiency of the RCH user boro rice farmers was 0.68, indicating that the farmers had been operating below the maximum production frontier. Farmers attribute like age positively, while rice farm size negatively influenced their technical efficiency. Thus, the RCH user boro rice farmers could enhance their TE by 32% within the given inputs with the right interplay of knowledge, attitude, and decision-making. To improve the efficiency level, farmers capacity building through knowledge sharing, training, and demonstration is warranted.