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Potential advantages of GM cotton for Burkinabe farmers

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June, 2008

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Source: Conversations about Plant Biotechnology

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 90 percent of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. Where possible, Burkinabe farmers produce cotton as a cash crop, despite frequent drought and insect infestations.

Dr. Ouola Traore (photo) discusses the field trials and evaluations that have been conducted for nearly five years in Burkina Faso to evaluate the safety and potential advantages of GM cotton crops for Burkinabe farmers.

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Researchers consider advantages of transgenic cotton crops for farmers in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso in Western Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world with 90 percent of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. Where possible, farmers are producing cotton as a cash crop, accounting for more than 50 percent of all exports in Burkina Faso.

However, cotton production in Burkina Faso is susceptible to frequent drought and insect infestations that can often result in damage to up to 90 percent of the crop. As a result, cotton production is highly dependent on insecticide treatments to control these pests.

“It’s true that we have some varieties that are productive, but we also have to use a lot of pesticides first to treat the seed, then to protect the plants until they are virtually mature,” explains Dr. Ouola Traoré, an agronomist and head of the Cotton Program the Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA). “At present, the cost of insecticide treatment means that often we can’t be competitive internationally.”

To provide growers with more options for insect control and potentially greater productivity in the field, Burkina Faso began field trials and evaluations with genetically modified (GM) or transgenic cotton crops in 2003. The advantages of transgenic insect-protected cotton crops are built-in to the plant, which contain a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects against specific lepidopteron insect pests. “The experiments are intended – with transgenic cotton – to see what the advantages are. … It’s to see if there is some other alternative to battling the various pests chemically,” continues Dr. Traoré.

The objectives of the experiments and tests were to assess the effectiveness of Bt cotton on the insects that infest fields in Burkina Faso, to analyze the financial profitability of the Bt technology for Burkinabe farmers, to analyze the impact of the technology on the environment, and to assess the composition and safety of the cotton seed and oil byproducts that are used for animal feed and human consumption.

“I’m interested in giving the best possible information to the producer. And it’s not in the interest of others, but in my own interest – as a scientist,” says Dr. Traoré. “It’s in the interest of the country, in the interest of the producers – because I myself am the son of a producer – to convey to them the right information.”

Researchers at INERA continue to experiment with local varieties to further assess the advantages of transgenic cotton crops for farmers in Burkina Faso, while beginning to consider how Burkinabe growers can produce transgenic cotton crops if the country chooses to adopt the technology.

If approved for commercial use, Burkinabe farmers are expected to benefit from less labor, less pesticide spraying and increased income. In fact, according to a recent report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), the adoption of transgenic crops among resource-poor farmers in other countries is resulting in unprecedented advantages that are contributing to the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50 percent by 2015. “Already you can see the importance of biotechnology, clearly in West Africa. … Biotechnology has an advantage,” says Dr. Traoré.

 

 

 

 

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