Has Bt cotton reduced farmer suicides in India?
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It sure looks like it, and it makes sense. Farmers growing Bt cotton have seen their net revenues double, which wouldn't seem to inspire despondency. And now, data in a new research paper looking at Bt cotton and farmer suicide suggest an inverse relationship -- that Bt cotton may reduce farmer suicides.

The paper, "Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India Reviewing the Evidence", is published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) (pdf, 64 pp.).

In their conclusion, the authors find "there is no evidence in available data of a 'resurgence' of farmer suicide in India in the last five years", that farmers represent "less than a fifth of total suicides in India", and that "the reported share of farmer suicides has in fact been decreasing."

"Overall, our analysis shows that, without a doubt, Bt cotton is not a necessary or sufficient condition for the occurrence of farmer suicides", they added.

In the paper are found four graphs presenting trend lines for the adoption of Bt crops, and the number of farmer suicides, in four regions of India. Three of the four show suicides decreasing as the cultivation Bt cotton increases.
 
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