Abstract

In Malaysia, conventional rice farming is thepredominant method of rice cultivation with attendantproblems like the harmful effects of the utilisation of syntheticpesticides and synthetic fertilisers. Thus, conventional ricefarming was compared to the System of Rice Intensification(SRI) method, a variant of agroecological rice farming, inKampung Klerek, Bachok District, and Kelantan. It must benoted that the agroecological rice farming method is thefarmer’s maiden attempt. Agroecological rice farming is amuch more environmentally friendly approach. The aim of thispaper is to compare conventional rice farming vis-à-visagroecological rice farming from a financial perspective.Comparative Cost Benefit Analysis has been adopted todetermine which the better alternative is. However, the resultsgo beyond financial consideration as conventional rice farmingis chemically driven whereas agroecological rice farming isgrounded on environmentalism. The results indicated thatagroecological rice farming is a better financial alternative withhigher revenue and lower cost of production. The higherrevenue is due to higher production yield whereas the lower costof production is due to contributory factors like lower labourcost, lower seed utilisation and ancillary cost, zero cost forsynthetic fertilisers and lower fuel and ancillary cost formachinery despite higher organic fertiliser cost. Thus, on along-term basis, with the effect of the learning and experiencecurve, the cost of production can be lowered further. Moreover,the higher rice yield, less seed wastage, utilisation of organicfertilisers, organic pesticides and natural pest control methodsare in sync with good environmental practices.