Rice Production

INTRODUCTION

Economists are interested to study the behaviour of firms such as whether they will charge a high or low price, whether they will make a large or small amount of profit, whether they will produce efficiently, etc. The answers to these questions will depend on the number of firms in the market, the nature of their products, the availability of knowledge and the presence or absence of barriers to entry. For instance, a firm in a highly competitive environment will behave quite differently from a firm facing little or no competition. In particular, a firm that faces competition from many firms is likely to charge a low price, make a small amount of profit and produce efficiently. The converse is also true.

The structure of a market is the characteristics of the market such as the number of firms in the market, the nature of their product, the availability of knowledge and the presence or absence of barriers to entry that affect the behaviour and profitability of the firms in the market. 

Agricultural Industry

Agriculture industry through the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources has been identified as a key area in Brunei Darussalam's efforts to diversify the economy away from oil and gas. The flagship project which include Brunei Halal, Laila paddy planting, Heart of Borneo and Business Licensing System is aimed to target a gross output of BND4.496 billion by 2035 and from this envisioned figure, the biggest contribution is expected to come from the agriculture sector with a forecast of BND2.7 billion (Brunei Yearbook 2011) which is estimated around 60% of the gross output.

In 2010 however, Brunei secured BND1.515 billion gross output whereby the agriculture sector contributed BND228 million which is estimated around 15% of the gross output. From this figure given means that the government has a lot that needs to be done in order to overcome the deficit. Rice production has been seen as a potential contribution towards achieving the...