Fuzzy multicriteria analysis of “Better Cotton” farmers’ adoption and experts’ recommendation on cotton pest and disease management practices

Aim of study: The Better Cotton Initiative is the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world because of the problems with conventional cotton farming and its impact on the environment. It aims to assist cotton communities in surviving and thriving while protecting and restoring the environment. Pakistan needs to make sure that local farmers are adopting these improved crop management practices in order to increase cotton production over the long term. Therefore, our work was to: (i) identify the cotton pests and disease management practices (CPDM) in Pakistan; (ii) evaluate the BC farmers’ level of adoption of CPDM; (iii) compare the experts’ recommendation on CPDM, and (iv) propose a suitable method to evaluate the adoption level. Area of study: BC farmers from Tando Allahyar district areas (Pakistan) were selected to investigate the adoptability to CPDM practices. Material and methods: The method first identified evaluation criteria based on a literature review and the recommendations of ten experts in crop protection. Then, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to weigh all the criteria according to two aspects, BC farmers’ adoption level and experts’ recommendations. Main results: Crop rotation, resistant cultivars, planting Bt with non-Bt cotton and border crops, recommended by experts, were all highly adopted by farmers. However, the adoption rate of other technologies (NEFR technology, botanical spray, and pheromone traps) was low. Research highlights: It was found that BC farmers were more likely to adopt CPDM practices recommended by experts. The above modern concepts and technologies must be adopted to promote sustainable cotton production, pest and disease management, and environmental quality.