Impacts of Organic Rice Farming on Production Performance in Cambodia: An Application of Propensity Score Matching

By using the propensity score matching method to control for differences in farmers’ characteristics, this research examines the impacts of organic rice farming on production performance in Cambodia. This chapter found that both the organic and conventional farmers can earn more rice income if they shift to organic rice farming. Organic farmers can receive a premium rice income of $US394–453/ha by shifting their farming practice, and conventional farmers would also get a higher rice income of $US468–508/ha if they shifted to organic farming. This chapter also found that only organic farming will result in higher rice income for conventional farmers because of the higher price of organic products. Therefore, this chapter strongly suggests that organic rice farming produces positive effects for farmers and that conventional farmers would benefit by shifting to organic farming. Farmers can get higher rice income if they conduct organic farming. To improve rice farming in Cambodia, organic rice cooperatives should help expand the market to obtain suitable prices and disseminate information to conventional farmers. NGOs and the Cambodian government should also support the cooperatives in expanding the market, provide extension services and guide subsistence farmers. The implementation of contract farming and farm insurance to secure production from organic farmers.