Page 17 - 02 Cotton SA September 2013

Navorsing/Research

Figures 1 – 4. Seed cotton yield (kg ha-1) at Groblersdal, Makhathini, Upington and Weipe during the 2012/2013 season.

Planting Seed Costs are the Highest Ever

otton growers around the world spent an average of 11 Additional features in the pipeline, such as nitrogen use effi ciency
cents on planting seed to produce a kilogram of lint in and increased drought tolerance, will be delivered through seed
2012/13, representing 7% of the net cost of production. improvements and will further increase the cost of planting seed.
C(Net costs are total costs excluding land rent and the According to Rafi q Chaudhry, Head Technical Information Section
value of cottonseed.) In the 1990s, the cost of planting seed of the ICAC, improvements in planting seed are becoming
averaged 4 cents per kilogram of lint. Planting seed rose to 9 cents the most important platform for the utilization of advanced
per kilogram during the 2000s and has now reached 11 cents. technology in cotton.
The ICAC undertakes a survey of the cost of production of cotton ICAC Secretariat.
every three years. The latest report contains data for 2012/13 and
will be released at the 72nd Plenary Meeting of the ICAC to be
held in Colombia from September 29 to October 4, 2013.

The two most important criteria for the evaluation of planting
seed performance and value were traditionally purity and
germination. During the 1990s and 2000s, seed treatments,
including delinting and fungicide/chemical treatments, were
added and increased the value of planting seed. More recently,
the addition of insect resistance and herbicide tolerance traits
introduced through biotechnology further boosted the value of
planting seed and consequently the cost paid by farmers.

Katoen SA Cotton 17 September-December 2013