1. Economic and Social Benefits of GM Cotton
Edworks E Mhandu

2. Outline of Presentation
Current Situation
Decline in cotton production
Reasons attributed to the decline
Economic benefits of GM cotton
Comparison of income and production ZIM and SA
Frequently asked questions
Closing remarks

3. Zimbabwe: Cotton Area, Production & Productivity
Kg/Ha
Area, Production, Productivity falling over the past three years; Farm income is also going down.

4. Reasons of Decline in Production
Reduced planting of cotton
Due to low prices of seed cotton
Farmers making losses from cotton production
Better prices of competing crops
Reduced crop support to the farmers
Less or negligible fertilizers and chemicals
Pests control especially bollworms, affecting the yield
High dependency on Global lint prices
Zimbabwe consumes <2% of production, exports lint to Europe and Asia
International cotton lint price forecast to remain low
Improving the farm productivity is key to reviving
the Zimbabwean cotton sector.

5. Improving the Farm Productivity
Global commodity price, Lint Price – Uncontrollable factor
Challenges faced by farmers to improve productivity in Zimbabwe
Climate change, drought and erratic rains
Low yields, less nutrient application, high pest infestation
Compete with farmers on international market that have better technology
Zimbabwe farmers need superior Technology
to compete against the Global farmers

6. Modern Technology to improve farm productivity & Profitability
Cotton Farmers around the world have adopted Biotechnology to make production more efficient
China, India, USA, Australia, Brazil… Burkina Faso, South Africa..
Why Farmers Choose GM Crops
Tangible economic benefits, higher returns per hectare
Higher crop yields
Easier and safer to produce
The traits: Insect resistant (Bt); Herbicide tolerant (HT)
50% yield loss attributed to bollworms
Weeds compete with cotton plants for nutrients
The advantages of Biotechnology have led to its adoption
by the farmers around the world.

7. Sub-thresh hold insect control
Benefits of Bt Cotton
Bt Cotton has in built protection against boll worms 24X7
Saving in Cost: Reduce the number of sprays for boll worms from more than 8 to 2 or less
Yield increase, high retention of the bolls on the plants
Peace of mind, no need to worry about yield loss due to bollworms
How does the technology increase the yield, saves spraying cost?
Sub-thresh hold insect control

8. insecticide application
Sub-threshold insect Control Bt-Cotton
Economic Threshold level
Normal cotton
insecticide application
triggered $
Time
Population (Damage)
Bt-Cotton
Savings
Bollworms are controlled, Bolls are protected
even if the farmer goes on holiday!

9. Incomes and production costs for smallholder farmers 2013/14 *
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Non-GM GM
Number of sprays 8 2
Yield: Seed cotton (kg/ha)
819
1,012
Seed Cotton price (US cents/kg) 56
Income (US$/ha)
459
567
Cost of production (US$/ha)
359
306
Net income (US$/ha)
100
261
* Studies conducted (Zim 72 and SA 42 smallholder farmers)
The actual increase productivity in other countries is much higher than the above.
Example: In India Bt Cotton achieved 83% increase in productivity from
300 kg of lint/ha to 550kg of lint/ha

10. Economic, Social, Health and Environmental Benefits
Economic Benefits: Incremental $52 million every year
Yield benefits ($40 million)
Increase in yield: 193Kg/Ha;
Approx. 80K tonnes incremental yield in 400K Ha for Zimbabwe
$40 million incremental benefit to the country
Chemical saving for bollworm control ($12 million)
Reduction of 6 sprays at 0.25 litres per spray = 1.5 litres/ha
In 400, 000 ha at 1.5 litres/ha = 600,000 litres of saving in chemicals
If the cost of chemicals is $20 per litre, net saving is = $12 million
Labour previous allocated to pest control is released to other farming activities
Reduced contact with hazardous chemicals
Less hazardous chemicals released to the environment
The economic benefit can be much higher depending on the increase in the yield; Less chemicals are deposited into the environment including water bodies

11. In spite of benefits, some questions are often raised…
Are multinational companies going to control the Seed Supply?
Is the seed going to be expensive?
How safe are Bt Cotton products to human beings?
Insects develop resistance of Bt Cotton over a period of time?
Will the country lose export markets if Bt Cotton is adopted?
Is oil produced from Bt Cotton seed safe for people to consume?
It is important to understand, evaluate the risks and benefits …
And address the concerns.

12. Are multinational companies going to control the Seed Supply?
The Bt technology is transferred to the local cotton genetics once
They are multiplied & produced locally year after year in Zimbabwe

13. Is the seed going to be expensive?
For example technology cost $30 more per ha, the incremental price for 400K ha is $12 million
National saving of chemical for bollworm control is also $12 million
Increase in National income over $50 million
If the yield increase per ha is 400Kg (like India), the National income benefit is over $90 million

14. How safe are Bt Cotton products to human beings?
Bt Cotton works in Basic medium, in acidic medium it gets digested in stomach like any other protein. (Science behind Bt Cotton)
Only the lepidopteran pests have basic medium in stomach, all others have acidic medium
It does not even control the sucking pests!

15. Insects developing resistance over a period of time?
Refuge strategy needs to be followed (5% of Non Bt-Cotton in the field)
In the event that an insect has survived from Bt Cotton field, if it mates with another insect that survived from Bt Cotton, the chances of developing resistance are high. If it mates with an insect from an area of non-Bt Cotton, the risk of development of resistance is reduced.
Even the resistance development is common with application of chemicals (ex Pyrethroid)
The solution is integrated pest management with refuge (Non-Bt Cotton)

16. Is Zimbabwe going to loose export market?
World leading cotton producing countries adopted 90% Bt cotton, e.g India, China, USA, Australia, Brazil, SA, Burkina Faso.
Over 70% of cotton traded in the world is GM cotton.

17. Is oil produced from Bt-Cotton seed safe for people to consume?
India produces 1.4 million tonnes of edible oil from Bt Cotton annually
For 14 years Indians have consumed oil processed from Bt Cotton, no reported adverse effects
India produces over 10 million tonnes of Cotton Seed Cake for feeding dairy animals, NO single adverse case reported.
In fact, Cotton seed cake is a preferred animal feed for its value to increase milk fat content.

18. Great innovations came with risks associated with them..
Risk assessments and evaluation of the benefits are conducted before acceptance and adoption or rejection
E.g. medicines, aircrafts, vehicles…
Bt Cotton adopted by millions of farmers around the world
Certainly deserves to be evaluated for claims of economic benefits to the farmers
Through confined field trials and risk assessment studies
Confined Field Trials are needed to assess the performance of GM crops and assess the claims of high yields and potential risks

20. Thank you!