TY - JOUR
T1 - Can GM-technologies help the poor? The impact of Bt cotton in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal
AU - Thirtle, C
AU - Beyers, L
AU - Ismael, Y
AU - Piesse, J
PY - 2003/4
Y1 - 2003/4
N2 - The results of a two-year survey of smallholders in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal show that farmers who adopted Bt cotton in 1999-2000 benefited according to all the measures used. Higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs, giving higher gross margins. These measures showed negative benefits in 1998-99, which conflicts with continued adoption, but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation, which takes account of the labor saved, showed that adopters averaged 88% efficiency, as compared with 66% for the nonadopters. In 1999-2000, when late rains lowered yields, the gap widened to 74% for adopters and 48% for nonadopters. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
AB - The results of a two-year survey of smallholders in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal show that farmers who adopted Bt cotton in 1999-2000 benefited according to all the measures used. Higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs, giving higher gross margins. These measures showed negative benefits in 1998-99, which conflicts with continued adoption, but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation, which takes account of the labor saved, showed that adopters averaged 88% efficiency, as compared with 66% for the nonadopters. In 1999-2000, when late rains lowered yields, the gap widened to 74% for adopters and 48% for nonadopters. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037377862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 717
EP - 732
JO - WORLD DEVELOPMENT
JF - WORLD DEVELOPMENT
IS - 4
ER -