Farm-level Assessment of Rice Direct-Seeding Practices in Chonbuk Province

The technology of direct-seeding in rice cultivation is an innovation mainly induced by factors in market economy and is rapidly diffused among individual farmhouses. Because the effect of technology can be affected by many factors under various farming circumstances, the impact and stability of the direct-seeding technology compared with transplanting was analyzed under various topographical regions. Yield in direct-seeding was higher in plains, although the farm size producing higher yield was quite different depending on the topographical regions. In the direct-seeding cultivation of rice, man-labor hours was reduced by about 38 percent and the reduction rate showed little difference among topographical regions. Fertilizer was used about 11 percent more but the increase rate varied from 3 to 17 percent depending on regions with higher rates in plains. Application of agricultural chemicals was also increased about 9 percent in direct-seeding, but the increase rate was as high as 12 percent in suburbs. More fertilizer and agricultural chemicals were used in direct-seeding cultivation by farmhouses implementing both direct-seeding and transplanting than by those implementing direct-seeding only. Use of more fertilizers and agricultural chemicals in direct-seeding in all regions may indicate its technical instability. Major problems causing the technical instability of direct-seeding cultivation should be solved by comprehensive research considering various farming circumstances such as topographical features rather than just a top-down style research and extension.