Genetically modified crops in Africa

GENETICALLY MODIFIED COTTON IN UGANDA 79

Organic versus Conventional Production

The main purpose for implementing the household survey in Lira was to cover a representative number of organic producers and generate a standard partial budget for an average organic cotton producer. However, only 12 of 35 pro- ducers interviewed complied with the standards of organic production. The rest of the producers admitted using some level of chemical control to deal with heavy pest infestations. In fact, the number of organic farmers in Uganda changes from year to year, as farmers appear to switch from conventional to organic with relative freedom. According to Dunavant representatives, in the 2006/07 season, 11,691 organic farmers were registered and contracted for a total production of 6,600 bales, which accounted for almost one-third of the total production of this company. The number of organic producers, however, dropped significantly during the 2008/09 season (see Table 3.1), as there were serious problems with army bollworms that infested the organic fields. During field observations, it became clear that organic farmers were so concerned about pest attacks that many applied pesticides even if they were not supposed to. Statistical analysis over this small sample of producers would obviously not render meaningful results, but the analysis of the household surveys can still provide some useful insights. As for any other organic crop, cotton requires a significant amount of

labor for manual activities, including insect and weed control. In our sample, labor use represented more than 60 percent of the total cost of production for organic cotton producers, and about one-third of that was labor used in manual weeding. Surveyed farmers reported that the damage caused by boll- worms was more than 50 percent, which is comparatively lower than the reported 76 percent for conventional producers. This difference could be because organic producers do manual control of bollworms, an activity that is quite labor demanding but more effective than the sporadic application of pesticides. Approximately 12 percent of the total investment of conventional producers was on chemical pesticides, whereas organic producers only spent 2 percent on organic pesticides. Organic pesticides include the use of neem extract and other nonchemical applications. Given these management practices, conventional producers recorded

17 percent margins, whereas organic producers had 5 percent. It is well known that the productivity of organic cotton is lower than that of conventional pro- duction (Ogwang, Sekamatte, and Tindyebwa 2005). This low productivity is somehow compensated for by a price premium that the organic producers get for their output. Yet the organic cotton farmers interviewed were not getting

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