An economic evaluation of impact of soil quality on Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton productivity

The study was conducted with the aim to determine the impact of soil quality on the Bt cotton productivity. Asample of 150 farmers was selected by using multi-stage sampling technique from three districts i.e. Rahim YarKhan, Multan and Mianwali. A Cobb Douglas production function was employed to assess the effect of variousagronomic and demographic variables on the Bt cotton productivity. Results of the analysis indicated that landpreparation cost, seed cost, fertilizer cost, labour cost and dummy variable of soil quality were significant andpositively contributing towards higher Bt cotton yield. While the spray cost and irrigation cost variable were foundpositive but non-significant. Findings of the study suggested that focusing on maintaining and improving the qualityof soils is necessary to obtain higher crop yields. All this needs attention of agricultural extension department toprovide information about advance techniques to farmers for improving soil quality.