Transgenic Cotton in Mexico: A Case Study of the Comarca Lagunera

Abstract

In 1999, transgenic cotton was grown in six countries on a total of some 3.7 million hectares, making it the world’s third most common transgenic crop (Table 10.1). Bt cotton has been grown in Mexico since 1996 and was planted on one third of the country’s cotton area during the 2000 growing season. A number of papers have now been published on the impacts of transgenic crops in the United States, but few empirical studies of transgenic crops in developing countries have appeared. In this paper we describe Mexico’s experience with Bt cotton, focusing on the “Comarca Lagunera” region in the northern states of Coahuila and Durango, where Bt adoption reached 96% within three years of its introduction in 1997.