The original genetic engineering using Cry1Ac gene was carried out by the Maharashtra-based Seed Company, Mahyco. After that, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute had introgressed the material into 9 different farmer-preferred brinjal varieties. This venture also involved Cornell University & was funded by US Agency for International Development. Bt brinjal does not have need of spraying against the fruit & shoot borer pest, which means that farmers can reduce the amount of time & money spent on sprays. A study conducted by the Bangladesh On-Farm Research Division on 850 farmers growing brinjal in 35 districts of the country had found that their pesticide costs went down by 61%. The number of sprays also dropped from 41 times a season on average on non-Bt-brinjal to merely 11 times. All this helps in improving farmers’ livelihoods considerably. The same study as above also established that the net returns per hectare were Rs. 1.5 lakh for Bt brinjal in place of Rs. 25,000, which means Bt brinjal growers were earning  6 times more than their non-Bt counterparts every year.