NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 19: Every extra rupee invested by farmers in Bt Cotton seeds has fetched a return of Rs 11.6, translating into a benefit of Rs 7,000 crore to India’s cotton economy, according to a national study by market research firm IMRB International. IMRB covered 500 villages in all the nine states where Bt Cotton is grown and interviewed 6,000 farmers.

The study, whose findings are available to The Indian Express, indicates that the perception of cotton farmers committing suicides due to high cost of Bt Cotton seeds is a myth, IMRB Research Director Sanjiv Chaudhary pointed out.

Focusing on the economic as well as socio-economic impact of Bt Cotton’s advent, the study found that apart from significant financial returns, biotech seeds have increased the quality of cotton as well as the quality of cotton farmers’ lives.

“The very farmers who till yesterday were struggling to make ends meet are today thinking of buying a tractor or more land, educating their children and marrying off their daughters,” Chaudhary said.

Eighty seven per cent of Bt Cotton farmers believe they have a better life, while 84 per cent believe they spend less time on the field and are less worried about the crop. From the point of view of farm suicides, however, what is significant is that 67 per cent of farmers are glad they can rid themselves of accumulated debt, thanks to their increased income.

“History will never spare anyone,” Chaudhary said about farmer suicides. “The first farmer suicide case in cotton was in 1995, when Bt Cotton was not even introduced. More than 95 per cent of farm suicides are simply due to debts,” he said. In fact, the BT Cotton technology has helped the average farmer, as the improvement in lint quality means Indian farmers will now get the same price which prevails in the international market, he added.

Even as productivity has risen from 301 kg per hectare in 2002-03 to an estimated 580 kg per hectare this year, Bt Cotton has also translated into savings of around Rs 800 crore on pesticide costs in 2006. Farmers’ pesticide costs are down by 32 per cent (savings of Rs 934 per acre) as Bt Cotton seeds require 4.6 sprays less than conventional seeds per acre. So even though Bt seeds cost two-and-a-half times more than conventional seeds, the 50 per cent jump in yields, better quality crop and lesser spends on pesticides mean farmers’ revenues have gone up by as much as 162 per cent or Rs 7,800 per acre.

The 37 districts covered in the study were randomly picked. “We have also tried to achieve the right mix of marginal, small, medium and large farmers. However, remember that marginal farmers in India refers to farmers with less than a hectare of land, whereas in a country like Argentina, it refers to farmers with less than 100 hectares of land,” Chaudhary said.60 percent of farmers covered by the study were Bt Cotton users while 40 per cent used conventional seeds. The study was conducted when the farmers were in the midst of their final yield assessments.