Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 22 ISSUE 4
Written by Leomarich F. CASINILLO

Good economic profitability in rice farming is known to have a positive influence on the happiness or well-being of farmers. This study investigated the relationship between profit and happiness of rice farmers in Leyte, Philippines under the carrying out of Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) in the country. The study employed cross-sectional and secondary data from an existing study from rice farming literature that measures the profit and corresponding happiness of a farmer in one cropping season. Regression modeling was used to elucidate the correlation between profit and happiness, and K-means clustering was employed to categorize a group of farmers that have more or less the same characteristics. Results showed that, on average, profit and happiness are relatively low during the implementation of RTL. The bivariate linear regression model has shown that there is a positive relationship between profit and happiness. This implies that as profit increases, the happiness of a farmer also increases. In addition, the logistic regression has revealed that the likelihood of a farmer being happy increases by 0.324% when the profit increases by 1%. Moreover, the ordered logistic regression has shown that as profit increases by 1%, farmers' log odds of being happy increase by 0.0129. Furthermore, by K-means clustering, the dominant of the farmers (45.76%) are grouped as low profit and happiness, and only 7.91% are categorized as high profit and happiness under RTL. Hence, the study recommends that the Philippine government must subsidize the local farmers' needs to increase their economic profit and improve their well-being as a farmer.

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