Analysis on current status and impacts of Bt cotton application by small farmer households in Hebei

Aimed at objectively know current status and impacts of Bt cotton application by small farmer households in Hebei province and provide a scientific basis for research department, production department and government, this paper synthetically analyzed current status and impacts of Bt cotton application by small farmer households in Hebei province based on a two years' survey involving cotton-farming householders from ten villages in Hengshui, Xingtai, Cangzhou, and Handan districts. The survey reveals that: Because in poor production condition region, pest stress is not serious, agricultural production condition is poor, especially households cannot irrigate, risks faced by households in agricultural are high, so now some households adopt non-Bt cotton. In adopting both Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton region, land size, age and education of household head and labor number do not affect adoption of Bt cotton. Social relation network, availability of Bt cottonseed and other inputs and our country promotional policies about Bt cotton promote widely adoption and diffusion of Bt cotton. Now, householders are lack comprehensive and correct knowledge about Bt cotton, householders save cottonseeds prevalently, households show a great confidence in chemical control, Some households are lacking command in controlling pests and diseases, householders have not measures to prevent cotton bollworm from developing resistance to Bt toxin, which will promote cotton bollworm develop resistance to Bt cotton, and influence Bt cotton's sustainablity. In the years of 2002 and 2003, yields and profits were increased with the application of Bt cotton varieties, but the increasements are not only because of this, these are also affected by other factors such as seed quality , cultivation and inputs .The Pesticide costs of non-Bt cotton are 6.5 times that of Bt cotton in 2002 and 3.2 times Bt cotton that of non-Bt cotton in 2003. In the 2 years, obvious change of the pesticide costs is relative to the sample village change, householder's cultivation practice and Bt cotton varities that householders adopt. In the years of 2002 and 2003, the pesticide costs of non-Bt cotton all are low, and are 15.0 yuan.hm-2 and 27.4 yuan.hm-2 respectively in 2002 and 2003. This is mainly related to the pests and diseases stresses of the sample villages that adopt non-Bt cotton are not serious, and is also related to the cultivation practice and attention of the householders. Yields and profits of American Bt cotton are higher than that of domestic Bt cotton. This is mainly because of the plenty of the domestic Bt cotton varieties and the qualities of the seeds. Yields with F1 seeds of Bt cotton varieties were higher than those with F2 and F3 seeds, while there was a variance in the differences of profits between using various filial generations of seeds between the two years. (Résumé d'auteur)