| Since transgenic crops have been widely commercialized, transgenic cotton was used as an example to investigate the technique for its economic and ecological effects and also its benefits to human being. However, this technique was not widely-used by farmers because of technique and non-technique factors such as market, information, policy, etc. We interviewed 345 farmers and extension personnel in the main area of cotton production in Hebei province in the year 2002 and 2003. Our objectives were to see the technical, economic, sociological and ecological effects of the application of transgenic cotton by analyzing the procedure and effects of application of the technique from a farming systems research and development (FSD). An integrative method was used in which a multidisciplinary approach was employed including agricultural science, economics and sociology. The following were our findings and recommendations to develop transgenic cotton in China:(1) The application of transgenic cotton increased the planting area for cotton and also the income of farmers. The planting area of 67% of the fanners interviewed has continuously increased since 1997. The planting area for cotton was 50.3% of the average field area farmers owned. The net product value of cotton for one season was higher than the combined net product value of wheat and corn for two seasons. The income from cotton made up to 60.3% of the total income from planting in a fanner family. The income from cotton has been the principal source for fanners. Hence, the application of transgenic cotton increased the income from agriculture for farmers.(2) The planting of transgenic cotton lowered the risk for farmers to produce cotton by using Bt cotton. There were much fewer insect pests in the field grown with transgenic cotton. Farmers only sprayed 5 times in two years on average which were evidently lower than what they did for non-transgenic cotton. Since insecticides are harmful to people, this technique even has beneficial effect on farmers' particularly on the women's health.(3) The income from cotton played a significant role in the investment in education and amusement and health care. The results from typical correlation analysis showed that the income from cotton was highly correlated with the investment and health care for a family.(4) The successful application of transgenic crops requires not only the adoption of the technique but also continuous assistance from research and extension personnel and also farmers to have the best effect. The main varieties of the insect pests in the field have changed because of the changes of related systems and management. This influenced the benefit of farmers from planting cotton. Thus, research and extension personnel needed to direct and train farmers how to manage the changing situation and prevent the main insect pests in the cotton field. This will result in the sustainable development of the technique for transgenic cotton.(5) The application of transgenic cotton was a good platform for an integrative technique system. The high quality of the seeds and the increased investment by farmers to obtain higher return had a good effect on high yield and high benefit from the application of transgenic cotton.(6) Fanners tried to avoid risk and pursue the largest profits when they used the technique for transgeniccotton. The high price of transgenic cotton seeds made farmers keep seeds from their growing cotton. On average, forty-two percent of the farmers used the seeds from their growing cotton in 2002 and 2003. This lowered their cost for seeds drastically, which was 22% of the total cost in agriculture. On the other hand, seventy-eight percent of the farmers didn't know much or little about the technique for transgenic cotton. More than 94% of the fanners could not get information about how to cultivate and manage transgenic cotton from their local extension and plant protection station. As a result, the farmers didn't have enough knowledge to grow transgenic cotton and to make their investment in agricultural prod... |
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