Impact and economic evaluation of IRM and Non-1 RM strategies for sustainable cotton returns in Madhya Pradesh

摘要

India is an important cotton grower on a global scale and has the unique distinction of cultivating cotton in 91 lakh ha accounting for about 26 per cent of the total cotton area of the world and a share of 16.5 per cent of the global production. India's average yield of cotton is only 493kgs/ ha in year 2011-12 (http: www. cotcorp.gov.in and CAB, 2012). This clearly stresses the need for further efforts to increase productivity of this most important commercial crop of the country. Cotton crop is infested by various pests, which cause significant yield losses. About 10 per cent of insecticides on global basis and 45 per cent in India are used for control of insects in cotton crop alone (Bambawale et al., 2004). The desperate situation faced by cotton farmers due to pest damage and the consequent suicides by many of the cotton farmers led to search for solutions. Application of biotechnology for developing pest resistance in cotton is one among them that appears to hold promise. Bt cotton was introduced in India to reduce the pesticide consumption.To minimize the ill-effects of insecticides, the location specific IRM based strategies were validated during 2011-12 and 2012-13 in 15 villages of Khandwa district. Cluster of villages were selected with a main IRM centre based on their crop history andpesticide use pattern (Insecticide Resistance Management/High Density Planting System IRM/ HDPS) Forty to seventy farmers from each village were involved in the transfer of technology. A total of 696 farmers were involved in technology transfer in the area of 1114 ha. For comparison, data were also collected from 15 villages not covered under IRM programme (Non IRM) i.e. the farmers in these 15 villages carried on with calendar sprayings without grading economic threshold, the occurrence of natural enemies or non-insecticidal pest management strategies. In both IRM and non IRM fields, sowings were completed from 15th to 30th July of 2011 and 2012. To eliminate the impact of farm-size and variety, these variables were kept constant on the sample farms.For working out gross returns, the actual price of cotton received by the farmers in the market was used. The variable costs included expenditure on seeds, fertilizers, insecticides/pesticides,human/machine/bullock labour and irrigation along with 12 per cent interest on working capital.