Bollgard cotton gets higher returns: Survey

Bollgard cotton producers recorded exponential growth in their earnings as compared to their conventional cotton growing partners in India, a survey conducted by UK-based IMRB International said.

Farmers who planted bollgard cotton earned an additional Rs 2,100 crore ($477.8 million) income based on 3.125 million acreage penetration for the 2005 crop. According to the survey, there has been a 64 per cent or 4.16 quintals per acre increase in bollgard yields, when compared with conventional cotton.

The net profit increase for farmers using bollgard is Rs 6,727 per acre or over 118 per cent. Another key finding is the reduction of an average 2.4 pesticide sprays against bollworm that translates to a 25 per cent reduction in total pesticides spend.

The survey was based on 4,799 farmers, interviewed across 31 cotton growing districts in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. This survey reconfirms that for the fourth successive year, the benefits of bollgard cotton to Indian farmers included better yields, reduced pesticide use and higher profits.

According to Nikhil Rawal, senior vice president and executive director, IMRB International, "This second IMRB survey of bollgard has reconfirmed for us the earlier findings that farmers stand to benefit from the usage of this technology. A total of 31 districts were covered as part of the research out of the 80 cotton districts across cotton growing states in India. Better yields and less pesticide usage have been the key triggers for farmers choosing bollgard over conventional cotton."

After Maharashtra Hybrids Seeds Co Ltd (Mahyco) received regulatory approval in March 2002, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd (MMB) sold 72,000 acres of the three approved bollgard hybrids in the first year.

In 2003, the second year of launch, the acreage under bollgard cotton increased three-fold to 230,000 acres. In 2004, Rasi Seeds received approval for one hybrid and bollgard sales rose to 1.3 million acres, a six-fold increase over the previous year. Bollgard was planted in India by approximately 350,000 farmers in 2004.

In 2005, 20 hybrids of bollgard including three approved hybrids of Ankur Seeds and two hybrids of Nuziveedu Seeds were planted across all nine cotton growing states with a million farmers planting it on 3.1 million acres. This increase in acreage and number of farmers adopting Bollgard is a testament to the continuing success and acceptance of the technology in India.

According to the ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications) Report 'Global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops: 2005,' "India had the highest percentage year-on-year growth among biotech crop countries in 2005 with a 160 per cent increase in Bt cotton hectares over the previous year.'

The report further says, "India increased the area planted to Bt cotton from 500,000 hectares in 2004 to 1.3 million hectares in 2005. Increased plantings of bollgard also led to an increase in the national average of mean lint yield (kg per hectare) from 460 in 2004 to 465 in 2005. Biotech crops were grown by approximately one million resource-poor farmers whose increased incomes from biotech crops contributed to the alleviation of their poverty."