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- Title
FARMERS' PERCEPTION AND EVALUATION OF Bt COTTON CULTIVATION IN PUNJAB.
- Authors
Singh, Jagmit; Singh, Dharminder; Singh, Sukhdev
- Abstract
A study involving 150 farmers from three south-western districts of Punjab was conducted for comparative evaluation of Bt and non-Bt cotton cultivation. Study revealed that mean age of respondents was 49 years with average operational land holding of 8.09 hectares. The commission agents and private company representatives were the major sources for seeking farm information with mean score of 2.58 and 1.70, respectively. Weather related applications were found to be most commonly used ICTs among the respondents. Insecticide usage had reduced significantly with the adoption of Bt cotton and the average number of insecticide sprays decreased from 13.07 to 6.20 with corresponding reduction in expenditure on insecticide usage. Average number of insecticide sprays for the management of bollworm complex decreased from 8.50 to 0.84 in Bt cotton, whereas the insecticide sprays applied for management of sucking pests slightly increased from 1.47 to 1.78 on Bt cotton. The proportion of insecticide usage cost in total production cost was decreased from 30.26% to 17.82%. The benefit-cost ratio for Bt cotton increased to 2.52 as compared to 1.86 in case of non-Bt, which in turn indicates the increase in income of cotton farmers with the adoption of Bt cotton technology. The cost on the variables like fertilizers, irrigation, and hoeing was found to be significant in affecting the total production of the Bt cotton. Farmers perceive that Bt cotton helps to manage bollworm attack easily and enables them to get better returns.
- Subjects
PUNJAB; BT cotton; COTTON growing; PEST control; COTTON farmers; FARMERS; INSECTICIDES
- Publication
Agricultural Research Journal, 2019, Vol 56, Issue 3, p556
- ISSN
2395-1435
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5958/2395-146X.2019.00086.3