Socio-economic Study Confirmed Gains in Bt Cotton in India

A study by the Center for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) confirmed that the Bt cotton technology is superior to the conventional cotton hybrids in terms of yield, net returns, and employment opportunities. The recently concluded study that covered 623 Bt cotton farmers in Warangal, Nalgonda, Guntur and Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh, India showed that Bt cotton cultivation resulted to 32% higher yield than non Bt, lowered cost of production by 11%, and increased Bt cotton farmer net income by 146% (Rs3067) per acre over non-Bt cotton. Insecticide  expenditures decreased by 18% with reduced spraying from 12 (non-Bt) to 9 times (Bt cotton fields).

Bt cotton cultivation gave a huge positive impact to all farmer social groups, size categories and agro-climatic zones by improving their economic and social status, specially the women laborers -  the bulk of the labor force, who saved 10 days of employment. More importantly, the study also showed that around 84% of the Bt cotton farmers who cultivated Bt cotton the first time in 2004-2005 have used the technology again in 2006.

For a copy of the study "Socio-economic impact of Bt cotton" by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad: http://www.cess.ac.in/cesshome/cessmonograph3.pdf For more information on biotech in India contact: b.choudhary@isaaa.org