BETTER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs) ENSURE SUSTAINABLE COTTON PRODUCTION IN COMPARISON TO CONVENTIONAL FARMING IN SINDH, PAKISTAN

Potential Impact of BMPs on cotton production

Abstract

Conventional agriculture system characterized by large inputs reduces soil biodiversity and imposed negative impacts on the ecosystem. The purpose of the current study was designed to assess the positive impact of Better Management Practices (BMPs) on cotton cultivation to reduce the burden on natural scarce resources in three different regions of Sindh (i.e., Ghotki, Sukkur & Khairpur) during the years 2017-2019. The data relevant to cotton production (viz. land, seed, fertilizers, pesticides, water and labour) were collected from the randomly selected better cotton (BC=400) and conventional cotton farmers (100) in three different regions of Sindh through a well-structured questionnaire by using multi-stage cluster sampling survey method. Descriptive analysis was employed on data related to capital inputs, revenue productivity, net return, input-output ratio and cost-benefit ratio to evaluate the significant effect of BMPs on the utilization of input resources and profitability of cotton production. It was calculated that conventional farmers have used significantly high inputs viz., rate of seed (17%), inorganic fertilizers (21%) and pesticides (26%) and water (20%) as compared to BC farmers, hence the total output cost by conventional cotton farmers were significantly high by 28%. The results indicated that BC farmers' resource utilization is efficient and yield is also improved by 25% (983.16 kg acre^-1) as compared to conventional cotton farmers (784.73 kg acre^-1) in Sindh. The economic analysis showed that the average income of BC farmers was significantly high by 11% (92259.22 PKR acre^-1) with the maximum profitable return of 62354.91 PKR acre^-1 and B:C (1:1.07) as compared to conventional farmers. The analyses revealed that “better cotton” is better than conventional cotton in terms of both inputs using efficiency and financial return. In the light of investigated results, it can be suggested that farming communities should be encouraged for the adoption of BMPs for the promotion of “better cotton” in Sindh and elsewhere.