Economic Analysis of Small-scale Pumping Machines Operated in Rice Production in Chum Kiri District, Kampot, Cambodia

Abstract

Water scarcity has become abnormally serious across the year, so timely irrigation aid is strongly required for healthy crop growth. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the characteristics of farmers’ preferences over pumping machines in rice production and to analyze their break-even points. The study was performed during the period from January to June in 2015, by randomly selecting 80 pump owners from one farming commune in Chum Kiri District, Kampot Province, Cambodia. The data were collected using household interviews, in-depth interviews and a group discussion. The data were analyzed by utilizing descriptive statistics and the break-even formula to investigate repair costs, annual pumping hours and standard farm sizes. The result shows that water pumps were highly in operation during dry season to maintain the crop-water balance and were annually operated about 412 hours. The engine capacity of pumping machines, frequently purchased, ranged from 5.5 to 8 horsepower. The pumps lasted for five full-operational years and depreciated 25 dollars on an annual basis. Japanese-brand pumps were best-selling, still farmers were subjected to have excessive spending on annual repairs because of less care and little maintenance knowledge. Although water pumps were widely utilized across the studied area, each household only cultivated on an average of 1.20 hectare-farmland, whereas the break-even land was calculated to be at least 6 hectares of cultivated land, so that the pumps were fully operated, economically and effectively. In conclusion, though operated on a small land, water pumps have made a contribution toward improvement in crop production. However, they remained minimally useful in case of scarce water sources. Therefore, irrigation sources should also be considered and constructed, so crop production might be double or diversified with the presence of pumping machines.