The economic impact of genetically modified cotton on South African smallholders: Yield, profit and health effects
Bennett R, Morse S, Ismael Y (2006). Journal of Development Studies.
This paper is relevant to the Safety & Health Impact, and Developing Country categories in the following areas:
| Crops: | Cotton |
| Traits: | Insect Res. (BT) |
| Countries: | South Africa |
| Regions: | Africa |
| ImpactAreas: | Safety & Health, Developing Countries, and Yield |
Abstract or Summary:
Results of a large-scale survey of resource-poor smallholder cotton farmers in South Africa over three years conclusively show that adopters of Bt cotton have benefited in terms of higher yields, lower pesticide use, less labour for pesticide application and substantially higher gross margins per hectare. These benefits were clearly related to the technology, and not to preferential adoption by farmers who were already highly efficient. The smallest producers are shown to have benefited from adoption of the Bt variety as much as, if not more than, larger producers. Moreover, evidence from hospital records suggests a link between declining pesticide poisonings and adoption of the Bt variety.
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