Economics of Boro Rice Production in Rangpur District of Bangladesh: Comparative Assessment of Urea Super Granule and Traditional Urea Application Md Farhad Masum 1 , Md Monirul Islam 1 Arifa Jannat 2 and Aurup Ratan Dhar 1 * 1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh 2 Institute of Agribusiness and Development Studies, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh Submission: September 21, 2018, Published: October 17, 2018 * Corresponding author: Aurup Ratan Dhar, Department of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, 43/3/1, Alia Madrasha Road, Vatikashore, Bangladesh; Tel: ; Email: Agri Res & Tech: Open Access J 18(3): ARTOAJ.MS.ID.556059 (2018) 00136 Research Article Volume 18 Issue 3 - October 2018 DOI: 10.19080/ARTOAJ.2018.18.556059 Agri Res & Tech: Open Access J Copyright © All rights are reserved by Aurup Ratan Dhar Abstract The study was examined the profitability of Boro rice production using urea super granule (USG) and traditional urea in Rangpur district of Bangladesh. 60 farmers were selected randomly for the present study. The cultivation of Boro rice was profitable from the viewpoint of the farmers. Per hectare net return for USG user and traditional urea user was Tk. 40264.4 and Tk. 26740.2, respectively. Benefit cost ratio for USG user and traditional urea user was estimated at 1.5 and 1.3, respectively. BCR was higher for USG user because they were efficient producer. Power tiller cost, seed/seedling cost, TSP cost, MoP cost, cowdung cost and irrigation cost; and human labor cost, seed/seedling cost, urea cost, MoP cost, cowdung cost and irrigation cost had significant impact on gross return from Boro rice production for USG and traditional urea user, respectively. Age of farmer, price of USG, soil nutrient availability and extension contact had significant impact on farmers’ preference for using USG in Boro rice production. The price of fertilizer should be regulated strictly by the government and extension programs should be arranged in order to motivate farmers for adopting USG use in Boro rice production. Keywords: Boro rice; Urea super granule; Traditional urea; Fertilization Abbreviations: USG: Urea Super Granule; DAE: Department of Agricultural Extension; PU: Prilled Urea; BCR: Benefit Cost Ratio; OLS: Ordinary Least Squares Introduction Bangladesh is an agro based and developing country and the country faced problems of low productivity, a chronic shortage of food supply, poverty, external dependence and high unemployment problem. Rice plays significant role in terms of food habit. It is also a primary staple food for large proportion of people in the developing countries. Before liberation in this country food deficit was common phenomenon. After liberation different research organizations developed HYV of rice. As a result, food deficit has been gradually decreased. To increase this production the research organizations and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are playing the most important role. About 75% of the total cropped area and over 80% of the total irrigated area is planted to rice [1]. Thus, rice plays a vital role in the livelihood of the people of Bangladesh. However, there is no reason to be complacent. The population of Bangladesh is still growing by two million every year and may increase by another 30 million over the next 20 years. Thus, Bangladesh will require about 27.26 million tons of rice for the year 2020. During this time total rice area will also shrink to 10.28 million hectares. Rice yield therefore, needs to be increased from the present 2.74 to 3.74t/ ha [2]. Balanced fertilization is the key to enhance the rice production. Nitrogenous fertilizer is playing pivotal role in this aspect. Modern rice varieties like, the HYVs need more fertilizers. It is widely recognized that nitrogen fertilizer use in Bangladesh needs special emphasis. Nitrogen deficit is found in almost all types of soils of Bangladesh for the low-level organic matter content. Unfortunately, the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers in wet land rice cultivation is very low and it is only 30% of the applied nitrogen [3]. Urea is the major nitrogenous fertilizer used in Bangladesh for rice cultivation. At present the farmers pay Tk.1000 per hectare for urea during rice cultivation and the farmers vastly use it. But about 60-70 percent of urea is lost due to broadcasting in prilled form [4]. This loss occurs in the form of ammonia volatilization, de-nitrification, run-off and leaching. This loss increases the production cost and also pollutes the environments as well.