The Indicus Analytics study covered more than 9000 farmers across 467 villages and 28 districts of the eight cotton growing states. It focused on the social benefits realized by farm families as a result of higher incomes resulting from BT cotton cultivation.

The IMRB International study on economic benefits covered nearly 6000 farmers from 111 Taluks of 37 districts, including 4188 BT and BT II cotton farmers and 1793 other conventional cotton farmers in nine cotton growing states.

Anil K. Agarwal, ASSOCHAM Immediate Past President, said that both the studies have established the tremendous socio-economic benefits that have accrued to the cotton farmers as a result of the introduction of this technology.

Some of the major findings of the Indicus study include increased maternal care services, higher levels of immunizations and larger school enrollment for the children of BT farmers as compared to non-BT farmers.

�This study proves that the average Indian cotton farmer who has adopted BT cotton is leading a much better lifestyle over his non-BT counterpart, said Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, Director of Indicus Analystics. The impact of BT farming was found to be positive on the women and children in the BT households. The increased use of BT cotton cultivation has also had a positive impact on the farming community.

Women from BT households had a higher access to maternal care services and children from BT households were found to have a higher level of immunization as compared to children from non-BT households. Children belonging to BT farming households showed significantly higher school enrollment compared to their non-BT counterparts in 5 out of 8 states surveyed.

BT cotton growing villages benefited greatly with an increased access to services such as telephone systems, electricity, drinking water, better internet connectivity, banking services, and better access to markets with a corresponding increase in shops and goods.

The Indicus study found that non-BT cotton farming households tend to be worse off across a range of socio-economic indicators. It was also observed that those who have taken up BT recently are not as well off socio-economically as those who took it up two or more years earlier. These results strongly links BT cotton farming to overall socio-economic progress, not merely linked to increase in income.

The study indicates a strong relationship between the decision to adopt new technology, including new seeds, changing attitudes within a household and many opportunities for development that come with adopting BT cotton, said Dr. Bhandari.

The IMRB study also reports that pesticides consumption by BT farmers in their one hectare of farm land is estimated at Rs.1300 compared to Rs.2900 per hectare by farmers growing conventional hybrids in nine cotton growing states of Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Incremental benefits of BT over conventional cotton in 2006 include that net revenue per acre being Rs.7757 higher. Percentage of gross revenue benefit was up by 162 percent.

�It is also clearly evident that a BT farmer has higher level of income when compared to non-BT farmers, said Nikhil Rawal, Senior Vice President & Executive Director, IMRB International. �Increased earnings are also seen in the reduced amount of pesticide sprays required, amounting to 4.6 sprays less over conventional hybrid seeds resulting in an average savings of Rs. 934 per acre for BT. farmers.

Farmers who planted BT cotton in 2006 earned an additional Rs. 7039 crores in income, based on 8.77 million acreage penetration achieved during this crop season. This increase in acreage and number of farmers adopting BT is a testament to the continuing success and acceptance of the technology in India, Rawal said. The survey also indicates that there has been approximately 50 percent higher yield increase in BT fields in 2006, when compared with conventional cotton fields.