Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh: a three-year assessment - IndiaGMInfo

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a reduction of Rs 115 on bollworm management for
all medium farmers with Monsanto hybrids, whereas
under rainfed conditions, non-Bt hybrids required Rs
237 less than Monsanto Bt hybrids for managing the
bollworms.
6.3.5 Irrigation costs of Bt and Non-Bt hybrids
Cotton crop is best suited to the black cotton soils
with good irrigation. In the irrigated belts of Warangal,
Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts in the Telangana
region, farmers get reasonably good yields of cotton
crop. As the cotton crop has an assured market with
minimum support price, many farmers with soils not
suitable for cotton also started cultivating cotton, even
under rainfed conditions. Another important reason
for the increase in cotton acreage is the availability of
crop loan credit for the farmers from private lenders,
usually the input suppliers such as seed, fetilizer and
pesticide dealers.
During the study it was found that farmers had
applied preferential irrigation to their Bt crops
at critical stages of crop growth by either
delaying or denying the irrigation for the non-
Bt crops. This was clearly observed in the case
of Monsanto hybrids. A cursory look at the total
costs of irrigation for Monsanto hybrids vis-àvis
conventional hybrids shows that Bt crop was
provided with 18% more amount on irrigation
compared to the conventional hybrids
(Refer table 8 ).
6.3.6 Total cost of cultivation of Bt and Non-Bt
hybrids
6.3.6.1 Cost of cultivation of small farmers
Contrary to the industry’s claims about saving of 30%
by growing Bt cotton, the study shows that the cost
of cultivation shot up by 16% (Rs 1943/-) for all small
farmers with Monsanto hybrids Whereas under
rainfed conditions with Monsanto hybrids the total
costs went up by 13% (Rs 1278/-).
Where the Heliothis left, Pink Bollworm took over
Though there was no significant reduction in the American Bollworm pest population,
Pink Bollworm damage was extensively reported from the field. Actually farmers
coined a term to describe it: Guddi Patti (Blind Cotton)