Bt cotton promises higher yields, profits for farmers

By Joseph Maina

Cotton farming is just about to become a lucrative venture in the country following the government’s recent approvals for commercial farming of the high-yielding Bt cotton variety.

The introduction of the superior Bt cotton ushers a new era in the cultivation of the crop, with stakeholders banking on the new variety’s high yields and pest resistance to jolt the textile industry back into action after decades of sub-par performance.

In March 2020, Kenya set off on the path towards cultivation of Bt cotton, a process that started with the planting of on-farm demonstration plots in various regions across the country.

Conventional cotton varieties produce an average 211 kilogrammes of cotton lint per hectare. Bt cotton dwarfs this figure by far, with an average yield of 925 kilogrammes per hectare.

And while conventional cotton varieties yield and average 572 kilogrammes of cottonseed per hectare, potential harvest for the Bt variety stands at 2500 kilogrammes per hectare.

Given such impressive yields, the government is banking on Bt cotton to create 50,000 jobs and generate Sh20 billion in apparel export earnings per year.

There is heavy demand for cotton in the country, against a sharp decline in production over the years. The annual production was 25,000 bales in 2017 against a potential of 700,000.

The country’s demand stood at 200,000 bales, which necessitated imports to cover the deficit. The figures reveal a huge gap in the country’s cotton needs, which means that cotton farming presents a huge opportunity for a lucrative cash crop farming venture.

Bt cotton is a product of genetic modification (GM). This new variety is equipped with an inbuilt mechanism that helps it protect itself from caterpillar pests commonly known as the bollworm.

The in-built mechanism is from a common soil bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis, abbreviated as Bt, which is widely used in organic agriculture as a spray.

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) notes that cotton bollworms are the most damaging insect pests, causing yield losses of up to 60%. But thanks to Bt cotton, farmers are assured of an end to this menace, which previously led to huge crop losses among cotton farmers in previous years.

“Pest control takes on average 45% of all production costs, presenting a major constraint that largely contributed to the collapse of the cotton sub-sector. Modern biotechnology, specifically Bt cotton, offers a viable contribution to address this challenge,” notes a collaborative report titled “Frequently Asked Questions on Bt Cotton in Kenya”, published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

Cotton farmers will now have better seed choices, thanks to the new insect-protected cotton varieties. Bt cotton will help them produce improved yields by reducing losses incurred by pest damage. Bt cotton is also expected to reduce pesticide use, which will be beneficial to both the environment and human health.

The new variety is also expected to reduce labour and farm input costs, while attracting more youth to farming.

“Bt cotton is expected to increase productivity while reducing input costs. This, coupled with Government efforts to address various challenges along the value-chain, including the operating environment, will give the country a competitive stance in the global market,” notes the report, copies of which are available through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives. James Onyango, a cotton farmer in Kisumu County, said he expects better performance of the Bt cotton over the conventional cotton he has been planting.

“I have seen its performance against the conventional varieties we have been planting. I have visited Bt cotton fields in farms within Nyanza region and I found out that it is high yielding, has low production costs and does not use much pesticides to control pests. For the conventional varieties I have been planting, much of my profit goes into production which is expensive and causes environmental pollution,” said Onyango.

Mugo Magondu, chairman of the Society for Biotech Farmers of Kenya (SOBIFAK), is happy with Bt cotton and says it will make a great change to Kenyan cotton farmers, especially those living in arid and semi-arid areas where pests and diseases thrive in cotton, noting that Bt cotton has an inbuilt mechanism to deal with pests.

“From the NPTs (National Performance Trials) we saw that Bt cotton was able to beat pests without much pesticide spraying, meaning that growing Bt cotton will help us reduce cotton production costs,” he said.

“We can now say that we have a cash crop and that farmers can grow the crop without much stress.”

With the rollout of commercial farming of the Bt cotton, Kenya joins a growing list of success stories across the globe that have reaped the benefits of this variety.

An ISAAA Global status report on biotech crops shows that India, USA, Pakistan and China each had over 1 million hectares of biotech cotton. Two African countries — South Africa and South Sudan — grew approximately 0.3 million acres of biotech cotton and Nigeria has recently begun growing the crop.

In the case of India, Bt cottonseed has been used in the form of edible oils and de-oiled cake as animal feed. The de-oiled cake contributes a third of the country’s total demand for animal feed, whereas approximately 14% of the total edible oil produced for human consumption is from cotton oil.

“Cotton oil offsets more than half of the import bill of edible oil valued at USD 6.5 billion annually. For Kenya, de-oiled cake would make a significant contribution to the livestock sector by reducing competition for maize as animal feed, while the edible oil will save the country some foreign exchange from imports,” notes the report.

The government has identified cotton as a key driver towards expansion of the manufacturing sector, which is one of the pillars of the Big Four Agenda. Fresh legislation is also expected to add a silver lining to cotton farming, with the introduction of the Fibre Crops Development Authority Bill, 2020.

The bill seeks to lay the framework for development, regulation, and promotion of cotton and sisal industries, a move expected to offer more robust oversight in the management of the cotton value-chain.

With its multiple benefits to both farmer and economy, Bt cotton presents a fresh and efficient way to rev up the country’s textile industry, and is poised to deliver numerous benefits to thousands whose livelihoods depend on this crop.