Hybrid Rice as a Pro-Poor Technology? Evidence from Bangladesh

We examine the use of hybrid rice as a pro-­‐poor technology for subsistence rice farmers in South Asia. Hybrids, for which seed cannot be saved, is often thought to be ill-­‐suited for poor farmers. However, poor subsistence farmers may find it advantageous to produce “sticky” hybrid rice instead of generally preferred slender open pollinated varieties, even though there is little market demand for it. We use two separately estimated double hurdle models to model the decision making process of subsistence rice-­‐producing households as they allocate their land and consumption bundle between hybrid and open pollinated rice varieties. We find that relatively rich households are more likely to adopt hybrid rice. However, contingent on adoption, poor households allocate a higher percentage of their land to hybrids. Moreover, we find that own-­‐ produced hybrid rice consumption constitutes a higher percentage of total rice consumption for poor households than for rich households.