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NEW TECHNOLOGY IN FARMING BENEFITS FARMERS, HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES
Indian Economist Dr. Laveesh Bhandari Discusses the Impact of Biotechnology in India
Indian farmers first planted biotech crops in 2002, and today represent the most rapid adopters of this new technology in farming globally. "Overall, the introduction of biotechnology can lead to great benefits, and what we are finding is — that's precisely what is happening across India," says Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, an economist and founder director of Indicus Analytics, an economics research firm.
In a recent study of the impact of this new technology in farming on individuals, households and communities in cotton-growing areas of India, Indicus interviewed 10,000 cotton farmers — some of whom were growing genetically modified insect-protected (Bt) cotton and some of whom were not. Specifically, the study shows that a greater percentage of women from Bt households received maternal services like antenatal checkups than women from non-Bt households. The children of Bt predominant households were found to have higher levels of immunization and significantly higher enrollment in school compared to children belonging to non-Bt households.
"What our study shows is that the impact on the overall development of the household and the community is quite phenomenal in Bt cotton-producing areas: Greater incomes, greater access to healthcare services, greater education," continues Bhandari.
Of the 90 million farmer households in India, approximately 95 percent are resource-poor farmers who do not make enough money from the land to make ends meet. Dr. Bhandari urges people who are opposed to GM cotton to talk with some of the 2.3 million farmers who used plant biotechnology in India in 2006.
"The most informed person is the farmer, who can decide for himself or herself whether they want to utilize this new technology. And, farmers have spoken quite unambiguously in favor of the new technologies," explains Bhandari. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), the largest proportional increase in biotech crop area in any country in 2006 was in India — where farmers increase plantings by 192 percent, almost a three-fold increase from 3.25 million acres (1.3 million hectares) in 2005 to 9.5 million acres (3.8 million hectares) in 2006.
Dr. Bhandari notes that one benefit driving adoption is improved farm economics due to the lower cost of this new technology in farming than traditional farming methods. "The non-Bt cotton farmer is using much more inputs, such as pesticides — spends much more on it," says Bhandari.
"A Bt cotton farmer is able to invest much more in better farming technologies, is able to purchase a greater level of assets for his or her home. … Is able to access higher levels of education for the children. Bt farming households are able to spend more on health care, and also able to spend much more on reproductive and child health care," continue Bhandari.
"The presence of greater incomes in certain households leads them to demand greater services and greater products. … When incomes are higher, people demand better quality of education, which also affects those people who are directly not producing Bt cotton. So overall, the community benefits when people tend to demand higher quality and greater levels of products and services."
Editor's Notes:
- Bt cotton contains a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects cotton plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests.
- 1 hectare = 2.5 acres
© 2007 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder consents to the use of this material and the images in the published context only and solely for the purpose of promoting the benefits of agricultural biotechnology.
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