International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 3 (2005) 44–56
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Do Some Bt-Cotton Farmers in China Continue to Use High Levels of Pesticides?
|
|
D. Pemsl1, H. Waibel1 and A.P. Gutierrez2
1Department of Economics and Business Administration, University of Hannover, Germany and 2Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA
|
|
|
|
|
Abstract
China was the first developing country to introduce Bt cotton on a large scale. This paper provides an in-depth economic analysis of Bt cotton production by small-scale farmers in China. Data were collected in 2002 in Linqing County, in Shandong Province and comprised a season-long cotton production monitoring with 150 farmers and complementary household interviews. For quality assessment, the Bt toxin concentration of the various Bt varieties used by the farmers was determined for each plot. All farmers were growing insect resistant Bt cotton varieties. Yet, they sprayed high amounts of chemical insecticides, out of which 40% were extremely or highly hazardous. The paper reviews methodological issues inherent to impact assessment of crop biotechnology and identifies market and institutional failure as possible reasons for continued high pesticide use. Using the damage function methodology the coefficients for both damage control inputs, i.e., Bt varieties (measured as toxin concentration), and insecticide quantity were not significantly different from zero. Results show that absence of enabling institutions and lack of farmer knowledge can considerably limit the benefits of Bt cotton for small-scale farmers. The paper points out the importance to include the institutional conditions in the evaluation of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries.
Keywords: Bt-cotton, biotechnology, pesticide use, China
 download full article
|
