Bt
Cotton
Highlights
- Asia
captures 80% of the global share of the potential benefits of Bt cotton.
The three countries with the large cotton areas,
China, India
and Pakistan, as well as Australia with a smaller cotton area, capture
most of the benefits (95%) within Asia. Pakistan is the only country amongst
the four where there is major untapped potential for Bt cotton. There are
five additional potential beneficiary countries in South and South East
Asia where Indonesia is already benefiting from Bt cotton.
- The
Americas capture 11% of the global potential benefits with
the US by far the major beneficiary (72%), with a significant unutilized
potential in Brazil. The remaining 7 national programs in the
Americas
all have high infestations and stand to gain from Bt cotton.
Mexico and Argentina have already adopted Bt cotton and Colombia
had an introductory
planting of Bt cotton for the first time in 2002, leaving 4
countries growing small to modest areas of cotton in Latin America
as potential
beneficiaries.
- Unlike Asia
and the Americas, there are no dominant cotton-growing countries in
Africa, capturing a significant global share of benefits
from Bt cotton. However, there are 22 national programs planting from
30,000 to 500,000 hectares of cotton, which could stand to gain from
Bt cotton and collectively capture 8% of global share. Infestation
levels are medium to high in all countries with South Africa already
benefiting
from Bt cotton. Egypt is unique in that it grows the extra long staple
G. barbadense cotton and suffers from high infestation and thus the
benefits could be significant. There are 11 countries in West Africa
and 9 in
East and Central Africa that have small to modest areas of cotton and
could benefit from Bt cotton.
- Europe is
estimated to capture 1% global share of the benefits, with Spain projected
to gain more than Greece because of the significantly
higher level of infestation, albeit on a smaller area of cotton.
- The six countries
in the top 3 categories, China and India (Category 1), USA and Pakistan
(Category 2), and Australia and Brazil (Category
3) capture over 85% of the potential global benefits. Four of the six
countries, China, India, Australia and USA, are already benefiting
from Bt cotton, whilst Pakistan, with high infestation and Brazil with
medium
infestation represent significant untapped gains. Note that the estimated
savings of 29,764 MT of insecticide for the top six countries is conservative
since it assumes a 50% adoption, whereas in practice it is more likely
to be about 70%.
- Based on
the data in Table 81, the potential savings in insecticide are approximately
34,543 MT a.i. annually, equivalent to 40% of the
81,200 MT of insecticide used globally on cotton in 2001. If the collective
projected savings (1,400 MT) in the 8 countries with low infestations
(4 Central Asian States, Turkey, Syria, Iran and Greece) are discounted,
then the revised projected saving on insecticide is approximately 33,000
MT, equivalent to 37% of the 81,200 MT of cotton insecticides used
globally
in 2001. Based on a global value of $1.7 billion at the farmer level
for 81,200 MT of global cotton insecticides in 2001, the annual value
of the 33,000 MT saving is $690 million, of which by far the largest
share will accrue to Asia; more specifically the significant beneficiaries
are the six large cotton-growing countries with medium to high levels
of infestation, China, India, USA, Pakistan, Australia and Brazil.
Note that the estimated potential annual saving of $ 690 million is only
for
insecticide product and does not include the additional substantial
benefits from increased yield and the significant labor savings that
would result
from decreasing the number of insecticide sprays by 50% or more through
the adoption of Bt cotton. Based on the experience of the countries
that have commercialized Bt cotton to-date, the total potential global
savings
from adopting Bt cotton in all countries with medium to high infestations
of lepidopteran pests would be a significant multiple of the $690 million
potential annual savings which is only attributable to the value of
the saved insecticide product.
- The six countries
with large potential benefits from Bt cotton have either already adopted
Bt cotton, (China, India, USA and Australia)
or are exploring its development (Pakistan and Brazil). The challenge
is to provide an opportunity for the countries with smaller to modest
areas of cotton in the developing world where several factors preclude
access to Bt cotton. These include lack of a regulatory framework to
field test the technology, or the transaction cost may be too high
for commercializing a relatively small area of cotton. However, it is
important
that these smaller cotton-growing countries with resource-poor cotton
farmers are offered the option of commercial access so that they are
not disadvantaged by being denied the significant benefits that accrue
to adopters of Bt cotton. There are 30 such developing countries in
Africa (21), Asia (5) and Latin America (4) that have medium to high
infestations
of lepidopteran pests and could benefit significantly from Bt cotton.
The China and South Africa experiences with Bt cotton have clearly
demonstrated that Bt cotton can make a significant contribution environmentally,
economically
and socially, and in particular to the alleviation of poverty and improved
health of small resource-poor farmers.
- Creative
initiatives must be developed by the international development community
that will allow potential beneficiary small countries
to have the option to participate in a coordinated initiative, designed
to deliver responsible and cost effective solutions to the common constraints
facing resource-poor cotton farmers in small developing countries.
Failure to do this will condemn and further disadvantage small resource-poor
cotton farmers in small developing countries, compared with their counterparts
in both the industrial and developing countries who are already benefiting
from Bt technology. Unlike biotechnology transfer programs featuring
orphan food staple crops such as sweet potato or cassava which are
non-commercial
and not traded or exported, cotton is exported and traded internationally
and developing countries have to compete in the international market
place. Hence they must have access to equally competitive technology
if they are not to suffer a disadvantage compared with adopters of
superior technologies. Bt cotton offers a unique opportunity for small
resource-poor
cotton farmers in developing countries to derive significant agronomic,
environmental, economic, health and social benefits. The perceptions
of the critics of biotechnology should not dissuade interested smaller
developing countries from continuing to pursue their intent to field
test Bt cotton in their own countries and reserve their sovereign right
to make decisions re the adoption of the technology based on the country’s
own assessment of the technology. In a recent presentation, Robert Paarlberg
(2002) when reviewing the effects of the EU’s position on GM crops,
said the “ real losers” were farmers in South East Asia
and Southern Africa. Paarlberg further noted that the approval and
subsequent
success of Bt cotton in developing countries might be the first step
toward the acceptance of other GM crops in those countries. Developing
countries should not be denied access to the new technologies by the
international public and private sector community which pledged its
support at Johannesburg and other summits, for a more sustainable agriculture,
a better quality of life and alleviation of poverty for the poorest
of
the poor, which include millions of resource-poor cotton farmers. The
challenge for the international community is to achieve sustainable
growth with equity for the poorest of the poor in developing countries.
The
compelling case of providing more developing countries the option of
sharing in the substantial environmental, health, economic and social
benefits delivered by Bt cotton to millions of resource-poor cotton
farmers in developing countries on millions of hectares over the last
six years,
embodies that challenge.
|
Related
topics:
Summary
Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops
- [View
the 2004 report]
Transgenic
Crops - [Click Here]
Extensive
Study on Bt Cotton - [Click
Here]
Download
the complete copy of the ISAAA Briefs on Global Status/Review of
GM Crops - [Click
Here]
SciDev.Net's
dossier on GM crops - [Click
here]
Global
Status of Approved Genetically Modified Plants - [Click
here] |
