Comparative Evaluation of Tractor and Carabao Use in Rice Land Preparation, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, 1980

This article is part of the seminar-workshop on the “Consequences of Small Farm Mechanization on Production, Employment and Incomes in the Philippines” sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the International Rice Research Institute held on December 1-2, 1983 at Tagaytay City. It identifies the activities requiring tractor and/or carabao use, evaluates the arrangements employed by contractors to secure work and assesses the changes that have occurred overtime in the provision of contract services. It also conducts cost-benefit analysis of tractor ownership and nonownership/hiring scheme. Effects of increased operating costs due to tractor utilization are discussed.