Status and factors of transgenic cotton coexistence
in hebei province (china)
- English abstract
- In China, pest resistant transgenic cotton was commercially released in 1997. After an acknowledged success, a decline in the effectiveness and profitability of transgenic cotton has been reported, as well as farmers moving back to using conventional cotton.
Our paper deals with the status and factors of coexistence in Hebei Province (Northern China) by analysing what cotton varieties are being used by farmers, along with their opinions on the effectiveness and profitability of transgenic cotton. Our study was based on primary data collected from 2006 to 2009.
Our results indicated that the cotton variety market was quite messy, with 42.6% of varieties of an uncertain nature. When considering varieties of a verified nature, the coexistence status was indicated by the area coverage of conventional cotton (19.4%). The absence of economic advantage for transgenic cotton might be a factor of coexistence, albeit alongside the farmers' adaptation to a messy and ineffectively regulated variety market.