BT COTTON IN SOUTH AFRICA: ADOPTION AND THE IMPACT ON FARM INCOMES AMONGST SMALL-SCALE AND LARGE SCALE FARMERS

M Gouse, Jf Kirsten and L Jenkins

Agrekon, 2003, vol. 42, issue 01

Abstract: South Africa is one of few developing countries, and the only one in Africa that has adopted genetically modified crops for commercial producton. The very impressive adoption rate of insect-resistant cotton in South Africa can be attributed to different benefits enjoyed by adopters. This article focuses on the reasons and effects of Bt cotton adoption by large-scale and small-scale cotton farmers in South Africa and considers the impact of the adoption on yields, cost and profit. In addition the paper also analyses the production efficiency of adopters and non-adopters. Boh large-scale and small-scale farmers enjoy financial benefits due to higher yields and despite higher seed costs. In addition, those who adopted the technology appear to be more technically efficient than those who do not adopt – indicating that it is perhaps the better farmers who spot the potential benefits of the Bt cotton seed. Furher diverse analysis of the results from the varous surveys are underway and promises to deliver interesting results on the various impactsBt cotton is having on the South African cotton industry.

Keywords: Agricultural Finance; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Farm Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/246010/files/42_1_2%20Gouse%20Bt-cotton.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:agreko:246010

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.246010

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Agrekon from Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search (aesearch@umn.edu).