GENETICALLY MODIFIED COTTON IN UGANDA 87


if institutional arrangements are implemented beforehand to avoid contamina- tion and damaging organic exports. A critical point in the case of the HT cotton scenario is farmers’ abilities to


apply the herbicide glyphosate. Very few farmers in the survey reported herbi- cide use, much less glyphosate, either because of the high costs of this input or its unavailability. If farmers cannot access glyphosate, then they will probably revert to manual weeding, with a direct impact on yield and expected bene- fits. There is also the issue of training in the use of herbicides and understand- ing the concept of herbicide tolerance and its implications for herbicide use. This raises a policy question that developers and policymakers in Uganda must address to ensure capturing the potential benefits of the technology. It would be worthwhile to explore in more detail whether a program to improve train- ing and access to herbicides is warranted. A question partially addressed by this study is whether reducing down-


side risk to cotton farmers in Uganda by reducing insect and weed damage compensates for the cost and effort in introducing a complex technology. It is important to take into account the additional inputs needed to enable dam- age control (such as the herbicide glyphosate), and changes in management practices (such as the need for scouting to ensure that insect pressures do not overwhelm Bt protection level) will determine how transferable the GM tech- nology is and how easily it can be adopted by Ugandan farmers. Although it is possible to compare the profitability of a given year of


organic cotton production with conventional cotton production using GM seed, this gives only a small part of the picture. Because we are inter- ested in contributing to poverty alleviation, it is much more significant— but at the same time challenging—to evaluate the long-term contribution of either system to the farmers’ welfare. This is a research topic that needs fur- ther attention.


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