Environmental Efficiency of Ecologically Engineered Rice Production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Abstract

Ecologically engineered rice cultivation was first introduced in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam in 2009. Although such cultivation is essential for environmental protection, the diffusion rate of the model was considered to be low. The low rate of diffusion is probably associated with the insufficient evidence about potential environmental benefits. Hence, this study applied the stochastic frontier analysis to estimate and compare the environmental, technical and pesticide use efficiency of ecological rice with those of normal rice. We conducted the survey by face–to–face interviewing 74 ecological rice farmers and 125 normal rice farmers in An Giang Province. Results revealed that the pesticide cost of ecological rice was appreciably lower than that of normal rice while the output was insignificantly different. The environmental efficiency of ecological rice was estimated about 85.54% and 84.54% for normal rice. Further, the technical efficiency of ecological rice and normal rice were 92.24% and 92.17%, respectively. The eco rice had a significantly higher pesticide use efficiency than the normal rice. Our findings suggest that the introduction of ecological engineering into rice production had positive impacts on the environmental and technical efficiency.