Three seasons of subsistence insect-resistant maize in South Africa: have smallholders benefited?

This paper examines whether smallholder farmers who adopted insect-resistant (Bt) varieties of white maize have benefited from planting Bt over the last three seasons.

Commercial farmers are known to benefit from planting Bt maize in high stalk borer or corn borer infestation years, as adopters enjoy increased income over conventional varieties through savings on pesticides and increased yield due to better pest control. However, when planted in locations or years when stalk borers are not a problem, Bt will usually not be profitable because of higher seed costs. For much of Africa and some parts of Latin America, an important question is whether Bt maize will be profitable for small-scale farmers.

This study finds that:

• in the first two production seasons, small farmers enjoyed higher yields with Bt maize than with conventional hybrid varieties despite lower-than-normal (yet still significant) stalk borer pressure and less-than-ideal maize production conditions
• the value of the yield benefit depended on how the farmer utilised the additional grain, with the highest valued use being home grinding and consumption substituting for more expensive store purchases
• in the third season, which was also the fourth consecutive drier-than-usual season, the stalk borer infestation level was very low, and farmers who planted Bt maize had yields similar to farmers who planted conventional hybrids.
  

The authors conclude that small-scale subsistence farmers in South Africa can benefit from the use of genetically modified insect-resistant white maize. Such a crop results in increases in small-holder income except in years with especially low borer infestation levels (as previously thought). Whilst Bt might serve as an affordable insurance against unforeseeable pest outbreaks, the authors assert, increases in seed cost could easily negate the potential insurance value to small-scale farmers.