Rice is the staple food in many Asian countries. The study attempts to understand the underlying issues of low rice farm productivity and whether progress made on this front will lead to greater market participation. Employing a control function to address the endogeneity issue and using the latest survey of Cambodia’s agriculture sector, the paper finds that rice farmers are more likely to commercialize their crops when productivity rises. The probability rises by about 20 % with a ton increase in rice yields. This has an important implication; policies and reforms targeting farm productivity not only boost rice production, but also promote commercialization and possibly exports. In addition, enhancing productivity hinges, among others, on improvement in general education, expansion of irrigation, and pesticide usage, as well as increased adoption of aromatic paddies, sticky paddies, and modern varieties.

大米是许多亚洲国家的主食。该研究试图了解水稻农场生产力低下的根本问题，以及这方面取得的进展是否会带来更多的市场参与。本文利用控制函数来解决内生性问题，并利用对柬埔寨农业部门的最新调查发现，当生产力提高时，稻农更有可能将其作物商业化。水稻产量每增加一吨，概率就会增加约 20%。这具有重要意义；针对农业生产力的政策和改革不仅可以提高稻米产量，还可以促进商业化并可能促进出口。此外，提高生产力取决于普通教育的改善、灌溉的扩大和农药的使用，