Bt cotton in South Africa: adoption and impact on farm incomes amongst small- and large-scale farmers. (2002)

This paper is relevant to the Agronomic, Safety & Health Impact, Socio-Economic, and Developing Country categories in the following areas:

Abstract or Summary:

South Africa is one of few developing countries, and the only one in Africa, that has adopted genetically modified crops for commercial production. Insect resistant cotton has been produced since the 1997/1998 season and insect resistant yellow maize since the 1998/1999 season. For the 2001/2002 season, herbicide tolerant cotton has been made available for commercial production and herbicide tolerant soybeans have been introduced on a small scale. Insect resistant white maize has also been released in limited quantities. In the 2000/2001 season, an estimated 300 large-scale commercial farmers produced 95% of South Africa’s cotton crop. The other 5% were produced by about 3,000 small-scale farmers on the Makhathini Flats (KwaZulu-NatalProvince) and another 312 farmers in the Tonga area (Mpumalanga Province). A total of 157,515 bales (200kg each) were produced on 56,692 hectares, with small holders contributing a total of 7,300 bales.

Paper reproduced by permission of Information Systems for Biotechnology (www.isb.vt.edu)

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