Area under Bt Cotton grows over three-fold in five years; published on Jan 16, 2013

Area under Bt grows over three-fold in five years

Staff Reporter

While the debate over advantages and disadvantages of Bt Cotton is still raging, most of the cotton-growers in Nagpur Division have converted to Bt varieties of cotton in past five years. The area under cotton in four cotton-growing districts of Nagpur Division has increased from 1,62,700 hectares in 2008-09 to 4,29,600 hectares in 2012-13, with 98 per cent of it being under Bt varieties.

Four cotton-growing districts of Nagpur Division include Wardha, Nagpur, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli. Of these, Wardha has the highest area under cotton while Gadchiroli the lowest. In 2008-09 Kharif season, the total area under cotton in these four districts was 1,62,700 hectares. Then, sources in Agriculture Department said, area under Bt Cotton was almost 60 per cent of this. In the years that followed, area under Bt Cotton went on increasing. Except for the year 2011-12, when there was a slight dip in cotton area over the previous year, there was consistent rise in area under cotton. However, in this year also, sources added, area under Bt Cotton had seen rise over the previous year.

Officials of Agriculture Department, on condition of anonymity, said that there were a variety of reasons behind cotton-growers switching over to Bt varieties over the years. At present, 98 per cent of the cotton area in the State as well as in Nagpur Division is under Bt varieties. One of the main reasons was gradual disappearence or non-availability of local varieties of cotton, and flooding of market by Bt varieties. Not left with much of a choice, farmers opted for Bt varieties that were available easily in the market at the time of sowing. Besides, yield was higher than that of local varieties though input cost increased tremendously thereby reducing profits of farmers.

However, when farmers tried to opt for local varieties preserved by some of them, their distress levels increased. The main reason was that their crop of local varieties attracted pests or diseases from Bt crop in nearby farms. Reduction in yield on these counts was not a profitable proposition for farmers and hence they left local varieties in latter years, sources added. But, an official said, biotech companies have started bringing in local varieties along with Bt ones in the name of ‘refuge’. The logic applied by biotech companies is that planting ‘refuge’ (local variety or non-Bt variety) between rows of Bt varieties reduced pest attack on Bt crop. As a result, now farmers have started planting Bt and non-Bt varieties together with hope of increasing yield.

“Whatever might be the reasons, one thing is sure -- area under Bt Cotton is increasing. In past five years, it has increased over three times,” said a senior officer with Agriculture Department. In 2008-09, district-wise area under cotton was as follows: Wardha-- 68,700 hectares; Nagpur-- 44,000 hectares; Chandrapur-- 49,100 hectares; and Gadchiroli-- 900 hectares. By 2012-13, it increased tremendously. As per the Agriculture Department records, district-wise figure of area under cotton in 2012-13 Kharif season was as follows: Wardha-- 1,86,500 hectares; Nagpur-- 1,19,100 hectares; Chandrapur-- 1,13,700 hectares; Gadchiroli-- 10,300 hectares.

Area under Cotton in Nagpur Division

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Year                        Area

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2008-09            1,62,700 Ha

2009-10            2,71,500 Ha

2010-11            3,83,900 Ha

2011-12            3,78,400 Ha

2012-13            4,29,600 Ha

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