Farmers cultivating cotton under the Better Cotton programme in India have been significantly able to reduce their costs and also achieve better prices, according to a study conducted by Wageningen University and Research (WUR) between 2019 and 2022.
- Better Cotton farmers decreased their costs of synthetic insecticide by almost 75%, a more significant decrease compared to control group farmers, who reduced their costs of synthetic insecticides by 47%.
- Better Cotton farmers saved $44 on synthetic insecticide and herbicide expenses during the season, significantly reducing their costs.
- These farmers achieved improved seasonal profitability by $82 per acre compared to their counterparts who did not follow Better Cotton practices.
The Research: The study, ‘Towards more sustainable cotton farming in India’, explored how cotton farmers who implemented Better Cotton recommended agricultural practices achieved improvements in profitability, reduced synthetic input use, and overall sustainability in farming.
- The researchers examined farmers in the three regions in the Indian states of Maharashtra (Jalna and Nagpur) and Telangana (Adilabad), and compared the results with farmers in the same areas who did not follow Better Cotton guidance.
- For the baseline, the researchers surveyed 1,360 farmers.
- The majority of farmers involved were middle-aged, literate male smallholders, who use most of most of their land for agriculture, with around 80% used for cotton farming.
- The researchers were Haki Pamuk, Nina Motovska and Fedes van Rijn.
- Better Cotton works with programme partners at farm level to enable farmers to adopt more sustainable practices, for example, better managing pesticides and fertilisers. The programme partners were Deshpande Foundation, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-India) and Ambuja Cement Foundation.
- To measure results, the researchers compared the evolution of farming practices, costs and profits of Better Cotton farmers with control group farmers (i.e. farmers in the same area and with similar socio-economic characteristics but not yet receiving support from Better Cotton).
- In particular, the study captured a snapshot in time of the 2018–19 season (baseline), monitors for any differences against this benchmark the following season (2019–20, midline) and then in 2021–22 (endline).
Other Findings:
- Higher levels of engagement with the programme also enabled participating cotton farmers to learn and implement better farming and decent work practices, particularly in Nagpur. Here, Better Cotton farmers improved their record-keeping practices.
- As of the 2021–22 season, the proportion of farmers keeping records of inputs used increased from 43% to 97% for Better Cotton and from 39% to 64% for control group farmers in Nagpur.
- Compared to the baseline findings, 47% of Better Cotton farmers in Nagpur began using bio-insecticides. Additionally, 10% in Adilabad started using bio-herbicides (significantly higher than 1% of control group farmers), implying less use of synthetic pesticides and less frequent spraying.
- The programme partners promoted high density planting systems and encouraged intercropping to promote soil health and better fibre quality.
- Better Cotton farmers in Nagpur received around $0.135/kg, equivalent to a 13% higher price than the price control group farmers received in the 2021–22 season (and 20% higher than their baseline prices). The Better Cotton farmers’ fibre quality was perceived to be superior by ginners in the area.
- Overall, Better Cotton contributed to an increase in farmers’ seasonal profitability of $82 per acre, equivalent to about $500 income for an average cotton farmer in Nagpur.
The Challenges:
- Despite the cost savings and improvements in profitability, yields decreased by an average of 14% compared to 2018–19.
- This decrease in yields of 87 kg per acre (215 kg per hectare) was greater among Better Cotton farmers than control group farmers in Nagpur.
- More Better Cotton farmers who reported a decrease in yields had planted cotton late as there was not enough rain. This could explain the greater decrease in yields among Better Cotton cohort farmers compared to control farmers.
- The programme partners also highlighted that more Better Cotton farmers planted cotton together with other crops (intercropping), and suggested that this might cause lower cotton yields among farmers growing intercrop.
