For the fifth consecutive year this year (2020-2024), Ecodevelopment has the privilege of collecting and analyzing yield data from four rice harvesters, both producers who follow PreFer (Ecodevelopment’s precision agriculture service) and other producers who do not.
The areas covered by these data range from approximately 5,000 to 10,000 hectares each year and are scattered throughout the Plain east of the River Axios (Halastra, Anatoliko, Ag. Athanasios), i.e. the area of Europe with the highest rice production over time. The 2,000 hectares come from PreFer producers and the rest from the other producers, who are also considered good producers in their area.
The first clear finding is that this year again PreFer producers achieve significantly higher yields (+8.2% on average) compared to the other producers, More specifically, the average price recorded by PreFer is 1,018 kg per hectare compared to 941 kg per hectare of the others. These differences confirm the consistently positive values in favour of PreFer throughout the past five years, which have ranged between 3.1 and 12.2%.
These positive differences in production are translated each year into even greater differences in profitability (up to +30%), given that the break-even point for production costs is around 600 kg/ha.
The analysis by producer continues, with a view to optimising the fertiliser application maps for the following year, as further scope for improvement is identified.
