Summary
The study investigates the impacts of Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) on economic, environmental, and labor conditions of farmers and on-farm workers on irrigated cotton farms in Pakistan and India. The authors use household surveys and focus groups conducted with farmers and on-farm workers in India and Pakistan. Using propensity-score-based weights, they estimate the effects of BCI on cotton income, price, yields, as well as workers’ daily wages and working hours per day. They find evidence of higher gross incomes and lower input costs for BCI farmers, but no positive impacts upon labor conditions on cotton farms. They conclude that particular institutional designs, value chains, specific time periods, and institutional contexts significantly affect the effectiveness of BCI.