The cotton value chain stakeholders, comprising of farmers and ginnery owners/operators, held a meeting organised by Monsanto Company recently in Abuja, to explore issues of productivity in the business.
According to these stakeholders, the country is losing out in the quantity and quality of cotton it produces due to non-usage of BT cotton. BT cotton hedges against Bollworm, a vicious insect that destroys the cotton crop. Use of insecticides in the control of Bollworm can constitute up to 60 percent of the total production costs for farmers and the insects can become resistant to the insecticide with time. But farmers cultivating BT cotton do not encounter these problems.
Speaking on the situation of a bill, Lucy J. Ogbadu, director-general, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), says the bill is still at the Senate waiting for passage to President Goodluck Jonathan, explaining that the particular BT cotton adopted by Burkina Faso took scientists about 10 years of research to develop even with the best facilities. And that the general rule among scientists is that if there has been a breakthrough in any scientific research, other scientists need to key into it and move on from there.
“So, the best way is to embrace the hand of fellowship that Monsanto is offering us, so that we can quickly key into it and to move on from there.”
Of note is that a result of adopting BT cotton a few years ago, Burkina Faso has become the largest cotton producer in Africa, providing livelihood to over 350,000 farmers in that country and representing more than 65 percent of household income in that country.
Also speaking at the just concluded cotton value chain stakeholders’ forum held in Abuja, Hamma Ali Kwajaffa, president, National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), said “the bio-safety law when it becomes operational will ensure that all the parameters needed for farmers to utilise Biotechnology (BT) Cotton will be put in place.”
The use of BT cotton will increase the quality and quantity of cotton output in Nigeria, reduce the spraying of insecticides and thereby reduce cost of production and the harm that pesticides have on farmers’ health, Kwajaffa says. “Currently in Nigeria, farmers get less than one ton per hectare of cotton planted while countries that have adopted BT cotton get as much as four tons per hectare.”
Explaining further, Kwajaffa says Nigeria’s cotton is currently discounted in the international market and sold for an equivalent of N80,000 per ton whereas BT cotton from other countries go for N200,000 to N300,000.
The participants at the forum also expressed concerns that farmers hardly break even as a result of the poor prices of Nigeria’s cotton. Concerns also raised include the fact that cheap clothes made with BT cotton are flooding Nigeria’s market even while the country’s lawmakers delay the passage of the bio-safety bill that will allow the legitimate cultivation of BT cotton within its borders.
Of note is that a result of adopting BT cotton a few years ago, Burkina Faso has become the largest cotton producer in Africa, providing livelihood to over 350,000 farmers in that country and representing more than 65 percent of household income in that country.
Read also: Cotton production suffocating on poor seeds, shrinking market
Burkina Faso has therefore emerged as one of the more progressive and proactive sub-Saharan African countries regarding biotechnology. According to reports by the Institute National Environment et Agricole (INERA) Program Coton in Burkina Faso, in 2009, slightly more than 125,000 hectares of second-generation insect-protected biotech cotton (Bollgard II from Monsanto Co.), in local varieties, were planted by Burkina Faso producers.
This was the largest introduction of biotechnology on the African continent. The commercial release was made possible through a joint collaboration between Burkina Faso’s national cotton companies and Monsanto that began in May 2000.
Based on surveys of 160 cotton producers, Bt cotton significantly increased cotton yields by an average of 18.2 percent over conventional cotton. There was no significant difference in production costs since the increased cost of BT cotton seed was offset by the reduction in insecticide costs, and labour savings from growing Bt cotton were offset by slightly higher harvest costs. Hence, producers were able to capture virtually all of the benefits from higher cotton yields. BT cotton producers earned a profit of $39.00 per ha, a $61.88 per ha increase in cotton income over conventional cotton, and also shifted producers’ bottom line from a negative position to a positive one.
With input from many sources, the Burkina Faso legislature researched, developed, and passed the bio-safety legislation to formalise regulatory oversight for the research and commercialisation of agricultural biotech products. A large portion of the resources required for the testing and commercialisation process was provided by Monsanto, who was also able to draw on past experiences from other countries in commercialising BT cotton.
Nigeria is one of the African countries still delaying the introduction of agricultural biotechnology due to various public interest groups. But the country has silently become a consumer of biotech products rather than a producer as products made with biotech agricultural materials are being imported into the country, finding acceptance with consumers and enriching farmers/producers of the country they are imported from.
