Enhancing Sustainability of Cotton Production Systems in West Africa A Summary of Empirical Evidence from Burkina Faso.docVIP

Sustainability 2011, 3, 1136-1169; doi:10.3390/su3081136 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Review Enhancing Sustainability of Cotton Production Systems in West Africa: A Summary of Empirical Evidence from Burkina Faso Jeffrey Vitale 1,*, Marc Ouattarra 2 and Gaspard Vognan 2 1 Oklahoma State University, 308 Ag Hall, Stillwater, OK 74032, USA 2 Research Scientist, Institute National Environment et Agricole (INERA), 01 BP 208, Bobo Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso; E-Mails: marc_watt45@yahoo.fr (M.O.); vognang@yahoo.fr (G.V.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: jeffrey.vitale@; Tel.: +1-405-744-6175; Fax: +1-405-744-8210. Received: 13 June 2011; in revised form: 13 July 2011 / Accepted: 20 July 2011 / Published: 28 July 2011 Abstract: Africa has been hesitant to adopt agricultural biotechnology, lagging behind global trends over the past decade. One exception is Burkina Faso, a West African country that commercially released 125,000 ha of Bt cotton in 2009. Bt cotton may serve as a working example of how African countries can enhance sustainability using modern, science-driven technology to increase production levels while reducing input use and energy consumption. This paper reports the potential impact that Bt cotton can have on sustainability in Burkina Faso’s cotton sector based by summarizing empirical evidence from previously published studies. Based on the summary of published data collected from six years of field trials and producer surveys, Bt cotton increased cotton yields by an average of 21.3% and raised income by $106.14 per ha. Using an energy balance model, the introduction of Bt cotton would also result in a 6.6% saving in energy use. The significant increase in productivity and economic returns could be the catalyst for Burkina Faso, and other African countries, to emerge from the decade or