Farmers' knowledge and opinions towards bollgard II® implementation in cotton production in western Burkina Faso

In 2008, the commercial cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) cotton (Bollgard II (R)) started in Burkina Faso. The adoption rate increased rapidly in subsequent years to reach around 70% in 2014. Although some criticisms were raised concerning the suitability of the technology for the farming system in Burkina Faso, the introduction of transgenic cotton in the country was generally regarded as a great success. Despite this, during the 2016-2017 agricultural campaign, the government of Burkina Faso decided to suspend the cultivation of Bollgard II (R). In this context, this paper investigates farmers' knowledge, perceptions, opinions and attitudes towards Bollgard II (R) as well as their views on the recent decision to suspend its cultivation. Data was collected from 324 cotton farmers, both growers of conventional and Bollgard II (R). The results showed that the farmers surveyed had a poor knowledge concerning the core concepts of biotechnology and Bollgard II (R) in particular. Moreover, the regulatory oversight of the implementation of the technology was found insufficient, as illustrated by the lack of compliance with prescriptions concerning refuge areas and pesticide treatments. Nevertheless, overall, the farmers interviewed had a slightly positive opinion about the effects on yield, income and their wellbeing. In particular the reduction in pesticide treatments was perceived very positively by all respondents. Although the study finds that the majority of farmers disagreed with the recent suspension of Bt cotton cultivation by the government, it also makes clear that a thorough debate on the technology and its implementation is necessary

Comparative assessment of farmers' understandings towards adoption of GM varieties in Burkina Faso and Kenya

C

Farmers' valuation of transgenic biofortified sorghum for nutritional improvement in Burkina Faso : a latent class approach

Micronutrient malnutrition has been a challenge in Burkina Faso for many years, where it has led to worsening food security situation. Vitamin, iron and zinc deficiencies affects 1 in 4 persons in the country and is responsible for early child nutritional disorder. The high prevalence of micronutrient malnutrition may be attributed to the dominant role in the diet of local sorghum varieties, deficient in essential micronutrients. To address this issue Africa Harvest is developing a biofortified sorghum variety. However the success of this innovation with farmers will depend on numerous factors such as product attributes, previous experience and socioeconomic factors. In this study, we applied a choice experiment to investigate the farmers' valuation of various sorghum seed attributes as well as to identify the factors that influence the farmers valuation. Our results show that there is a market for transgenic biofortified food in the country and thus that it could be a veritable instrument for reducing micronutrient malnutrition problems. We found that farmers are willing to pay more for biofortified sorghum, particularly if it also scores better on other attributes than the local varieties. Furthermore, we showed that those that have experience with the first-generation genetic modified crop (Bt cotton), are more likely to adopt the second-generation crop (biofortified sorghum). Given the importance of the other attributes and the heterogeneous preferences it is key to involve farmers in the development of the new product