Beyond the gene horizon: sustaining agricultural productivity and enhancing livelihoods through optimization of crop and crop-associated biodiversity with emphasis on semi-arid tropical agroecosystems

Increasing international attention is being given to the role and productive value of biological diversity in agriculture. Recognizing the potential of agricultural biodiversity and the services it provides will be key to meeting future food needs while maintaining and enhancing other goods and services, such as clean air and clean water, provided by agricultural ecosystems. FAO and ICRISAT are joining forces to further the understanding of the contribution of crop and crop-associated biodiversity (C-CAB) in sustainable agriculture in the semi-arid tropics (SAT). In order to address some of the key components of C-CAB, FAO and ICRISAT organized a joint workshop in late September 2002. The meeting was intended to generate animated exchanges between experts from different disciplines. Its outputs aim to provide a first step, not only in further understanding the role and value of main components of C-CAB for sustainable agriculture production intensification and livelihoods benefits, but also in identifying linkages and synergies between components of C-CAB in production systems for strategic interventions

Bio-economics of Indian hybrid Bt cotton and farmer suicides

Background: The implementation of hybrid Bt cotton unique to India has been heralded as a grand success by government agencies, seed companies and other proponents, and yet yields have stagnated at low levels and production costs have risen 2.5–3-fold. The low-yield hybrid cotton system of India contributes thousands of farmer suicides to the annual national toll. Conceptual and methodological barriers have hindered bioeconomic analysis of the ecological and social sustainability of such cross-scale agro-ecological problems in time and geographic space, under global technology and climate change. As a paradigm shift, we use conceptually simple, parameter-sparse, theoretically based, mechanistic, weather-driven physiologically based demographic models (PBDMs) to deconstruct the bio-economics of the Indian cotton system. Results: Our analysis of Indian hybrid cotton system explains some extant ecological and economic problems, and suggests a viable solution. Specifically, the model accurately captured the age-stage mass dynamics of rainfed and irrigated cotton growth/development and the interactions with the key pest pink bollworm across five south-central Indian states, and enabled identification of proximate bioeconomic factors responsible for low yield and their relationship to farmer suicides. The results are reinforced by analysis of Ministry of Agriculture annual state-level data. We explain why short-season, high-density non-GM cotton is a highly viable solution for Indian cotton farmers in rainfed and irrigated cotton areas of the five states, and possibly nationally. The transition from a theoretical bioeconomic construct to a real-world regional bioeconomic analysis proved seamless. Conclusions: The hybrid long-season Bt technology for rainfed and irrigated cotton is unique to India, and is a value capture mechanism. This technology is suboptimal leading to stagnant yields, high input costs, increased insecticide use, and low farmer incomes that increase economic distress that is a proximate cause of cotton farmer suicides. The current GM Bt technology adds costs in rainfed cotton without commensurate increases in yield. Non-GM pure-line high-density short-season varieties could double rainfed cotton yield, reduce costs, decrease insecticide use, and help ameliorate suicides. The GM hybrid technology is inappropriate for incorporation in short-season high-density varieties

Correction to: Bio-economics of Indian hybrid Bt cotton and farmer suicides (Environmental Sciences Europe, (2020), 32, 1, (139), 10.1186/s12302-020-00406-6)

Following publication of the original article [1], the symbol for rupee (₹) was changed to delta (Δ) in several places. It has been corrected with this correction. The original article has been corrected