Jeffery Vitale
Oklahoma State University
Gaspard Vognan
L’Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Burkina Faso
Pilja Park Vitale
Ph.D. & Former Research Assistant, Oklahoma State University
This article documents the impact of GM cotton in Burkina Faso on input use and productivity. Six years of farm survey data found that GM cotton used two-thirds less insecticide and produced higher yields than conventional cotton while reducing farm labor allocated to spraying. Estimating a Cobb-Douglas cotton production function found that farm size, insecticide sprays, number of bullocks, and type of cotton significantly explained cotton yield. Farm size was not found to be a deterrent to GM cotton adoption: farms of all sizes benefitted significantly from growing GM cotton. On a relative basis, farms of all sizes benefitted equivalently, though larger farms were found to be more productive and generated larger absolute benefits from GM cotton. Interpreting production function technical coefficients suggest that household labor is higher valued and more efficiently utilized on GM cotton farms compared to conventional cotton.
Key words: Bt cotton, Burkina Faso, efficiency, smallholder.