IMPACT OF CREDIT DISBURSEMENT, AREA UNDER CULTIVATION, FERTILIZER CONSUMPTION AND WATER AVAILABILITY ON RICE PRODUCTION IN PAKISTAN (1988-2010)

This study estimates the impact of major agriculture inputs (credit disbursement, area under cultivation, fertilizer consumption and water availability) on total rice production in Pakistan using a time series ranging from 1988 to 2010. The study uses a log-linear Cobb-Douglas production function to estimate the impact and importance of these inputs. It finds that area under cultivation and water availability had a positive and statistically significant impact on rice production and the other two inputs had a positive but statistically insignificant impact. Estimation reveals that a 1% increase in area under rice cultivation brought a 1.64% increase in total rice production and a 1% increased in water availability increased total rice production by 0.87%. The insignificance of credit disbursement and fertilizer consumption indicates the presence of inefficiencies which begs for some policy attention.