Jikun Huang, Ruifa Hu, Cuihui Fan
Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Carl E. Pray
Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Rutgers University
Scott Rozelle
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis
The overall goal of this research is to reexamine findings of ear- lier efforts that analyzed the effect of Bt cotton adoption in 1999 with two follow-up surveys conducted in 2000 and 2001. Our survey data on yields and econometric analyses indicate that the adoption of Bt cotton continued to increase output per hect- are in 2000 and 2001 and that the yield gains extended to all provinces in our sample. More importantly, Bt cotton farmers also increased their incomes by reducing their use of pesticides and labor inputs. Finally, survey data show that Bt cotton contin- ues to have positive environmental impacts by reducing pesti- cide use. Additionally, we provide evidence that farmers have fewer health problems because of reduced pesticide use. We conclude with evidence that China is not unique and that there are lessons for other developing countries.
Key words: Biotechnology, cotton, economic impacts, China.