India Sustainable Cotton Initiative: From

Farm to Yarn, the Better Cotton Way

Murli Dhar, Parikshit Gautam

WWF-India

Statistics – Cotton in India

• Important economic crop in India

• largest in area under cotton (25% of total world cotton area)

• Stands second in production (14% of total world production)

• Cotton consumes 7000 -29000 liters of water to produce 1kg

cotton

• India ranks second in pesticide use

• Cotton consumes 55% of pesticides used in India

Conceptual Framework of Better Management Practices

Action Component : - AgronomyIntegrated Nutrient Management Integrated Water ManagementIntegrated Pest Management Clean Harvest & Post Harvest Management

Feasibility Component: - EconomicsGross Margins

Impact Component: - EnvironmentWater FootprintCarbon Footprint

Specific Objectives for Cotton:

Use of Better Management Practices (BMPs) by 500 farmers by

2008

Awareness generated of BMPs amongst 5000 farmers in Warangal

district

Socio-economic and environmental benefits of BMPs are proven in

target project areas

Farmers experience sustainable livelihood benefit by working

collaboratively

Gain support of several companies to promote, source and use

BMP cotton

Project area/ Project at glance

18 villages of Shayampet Mandal, Warangal

314 farmers have joined in the project

3214 members have attended awareness

meetings

Project at glance

Initiated in 2006, in 4 villages with 41 farmers, expanded to 314 farmers in 15 villages

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

villages Farmers Acres

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

BMPs AdoptedS. BMPs adopted Use of BMP No. of

Farmers

adopted

Farmers

perception on the

practice (scale of

5)

Soil fertility Management

1 Summer Deep Ploughing Pest Management practice and conserves

water

245 5

2 FYM application Improve soil fertility 300 5

3 Vermicompost Improves soil fertility, and helps as plant

growth hormone

217 4.3

4 Compost preparation with Madhyam Quick production of compost 11 4

5 Amruthajalam (prepared with Cow

dung, cow Urine ghee and jaggery)

application

Improve soil health and soil fertility, helps

in improve soil microbial activity

217 4

6 Tank Silt application Improve soil fertility (changes soil texture

class)

43 3.7

7 Sheep penning etc Improves soil fertility 35 3.3

Water Management and other agronomic practices

8 Paired row technique Increase water use effeciency 3 3.7

9 Drip Irrigation Increase water efficiency 3 3.3

10 Closed spacing Improve productivity 3 2

11 Nipping of plants To check the vegetative growth, remove BW

eggs in Non-Bt

4.3

BMPs Adopted

S.No BMPs adopted Use of BMP No. of

Farmers

adopted

Farmers perception

on the practice

(scale of 5)

Pest Management

10 Pheromone traps Monitor pest incidence 208 5

11 Trap crops like Castor, Marigold Controls egg laying on cotton by Helicoverpa

and Spodoptera

244 4.3

12 Neem Oil spray Control sucking pests, mainly for Aphids 121 4

13 Bird perches Control Helicoverpa 179 4

14 Vitex (wild bush) decoction Control sucking pest 222 3.7

16 Neem Seed Kernal Extract Control bollworms at initial stage 148 3.7

17 Chilly and Garlic Mixture Control bollworms at initial stage 08 3.7

18 Biopesticde sprays Control Helicoverpa 04 3.7

19 Boarder crops like Maize, Jowar Control sucking pest incidence 146 3.7

20 Yellow sticky Boards Control Whitefly 114 3.3

21 Cow Dung and Urine spray Control bollworms at initial stage 22 3

22 Tobacco Decoction Control Helicoverpa, and Spodoptera 32 2

Research Design & Methodology

Data collection and analysis• Baseline data in new villages

• Operations log and costs for all farmers

– Farmers’ diary

– Checked during FFS by field organizer /

cluster coordinator

– Scrutinized and compiled by CRIDA SRF

periodically

• Pest data collection (population counts,

damage estimation, trap counts), Water

usage data and sprays count

– One Non-Bt FFS & one Bt FFS plot in a

village

FFS

Hybrid

FFS Bt

Control

Hybrid

Demonstrations (FFS, Trial, NPM/IPM)

FFS demonstration plots in each village

NPM/IPM comparison plot in one village

Trial plot: one in each cluster (15 villages divided in to 3 clusters)

Trial plot to compare:

Non-Hybrid vs Hybrid

Spacing (close spacing/ paired row technique)

Pest management practices (NPM / Farmers practice )

Intercropping vs sole crop (Green gram as intercrop)

Irrigation technique (Flood vs Drip)

Water use in FFS Farmers plots

Irrigation

water

used in

mm

Yield in Kgs

Cumulativ

e water

Used in

mm

Water used in

Ltrs. to

produce 1 kg

seed cotton

FFS Hybrid 185.5 950 860.5 3623.2

FFS Non

Hybrid 197 910 872 3833.0

In general, the water requirement of cotton crop is 900 -1200 mm.

the irrigation requirement of cotton is 400 – 600 mm

Reduction in fertilizer use

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

FFS-NBt FFS-Bt 2nd year FFS NBt

2nd year FFS Bt

FFS Demo/ Facilitator

NBt

FFS Demo/ Facilitator Bt

Mean fertilizer

application

rate (Kg/acre)

FFS-farmers Non

Hybrid 234

FFS-farmers -Hybrid 209

2nd year FFS Non-

Hybrid 239

2nd year FFS Hybrid 202

FFS Demo Non

Hybrid 225

FFS Demo Hybrid 205

Control 298

Mean active ingredient of pesticide applied

(gm. per acre)

A B C A+B+C

Red Blue Yellow Total pesticide

FFS

Non

Hybr

id 0 14.7 1.1 15.7

FFS Hybrid 34.9 75.1 18.0 128.1

Non FFS

(Control)Hybrid 57.3 144.8 50.7 253.0

No chemical pesticide used in Farmers demo plot

Reduction in Pesticide use

Results

Category Genotype Seed

cotton

Yield

(kg/ac)

Returns

@ 23 / kg

(Rs/ac)

Total

Variable

Cost

(Rs / ac)

Gross

margin

(Rs / ac)

FFS farmers

Non-

Hybrid 842 19336 7702 11664

FFS farmers Hybrid 926 21298 8282 13016

Non-FFS (Control) Hybrid 944 21712 9155 12557

2nd year FFS Non-Bt 935 21505 8183 13322

2nd year FFS Hybrid 904 20792 7554 13238

FFS Demo

Non-

Hybrid 900 20700 8330 12370

FFS Demo Hybrid 1000 23000 8910 14090

Results

Category Genotype Seed

cotton

Yield

(kg/ac)

Returns

@ 23 / kg

(Rs/ac)

Total

Variable

Cost

(Rs / ac)

Gross

margin

(Rs / ac)

B: C

Ratio

FFS farmers

Non-

Hybrid 842 19336 7702 11664 1.51

FFS farmers Hybrid 926 21298 8282 13016 1.57

Non-FFS (Control) Hybrid 944 21712 9155 12557 1.37

2nd year FFS

Non-

Hybrid 935 21505 8183 13322 1.63

2nd year FFS Hybrid 904 20792 7554 13238 1.75

IPM –NPM Comparison Plot

Yield (kg/ac)

Pesticide

costs

Total

variable

cost Sale price Returns Gross margins B:C Ratio

NPM – Non

Hybrid 1521 71 9621 2300 34981 25361 2.64

IPM- Non Hybrid 1590 328 10178 2300 36561 26383 2.59

NPM -Hybrid 1248 71 9621 2300 28705 19084 1.98

IPM -Hybrid 1435 328 10178 2300 32998 22820 2.24

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

B:C Ratio

NPM - Hy

IPM- Non Hy

NPM - Hy

IPM - Hy

Learnings and challenges

Technology:

BMPs were simplified and modified to local specific

Collection of alternative technologies, experiment them in the field/ trial

plot helped to innovate BMPs

Institutional Building:

Farmer organization and cooperative concept helped to mobilize the

farmers easily. It also help to sustain the project

Farmers cooperative can be used as a channel to reach the larger

farming community, for replication, scaling up, marketing of cotton etc.

Learnings and challenges

• Follow up activity in FFS, like meeting the absentees, recording the result of FFS demonstration is equal important, to conducting the FFS

• Cotton cultivation in warngal is a complex issue – It has Hy/ Non Hy; NPM, IPM; varietal differences, soil differences, climatic variations. Hence, it is a challenge to standardize/ recommend the BMPs – Adopted intensive monitoring of each practice– Demonstration of BMPs in different soils/ Hy, Non Hy– Intensive follow up of farmers, who experience complex problems – Ranking of BMPs – for efficiency and adoptability

Thank You