Article courtesy: Down to Earth
Image courtesy: Debjyoti Kundu
Author: Latha Jishnu
Flat yields for five years and rising insecticide use are jeopardising the success of Bt cotton technology.
Productivity stagnates despite increase in area
Cotton has been the biggest success story in Indian agriculture since the Green Revolution. Production has soared from 13.6 million bales (each bale is 170 kg) in 2002-03 to 31.2 million bales in du2010-11—a figure that catapulted India into the big league, enabling it to account for as much as 23 per cent of global production last year.
How did all this happen? The popular narrative is that the introduction of Bt cotton brought about this remarkable transformation. The genetically modified Bt cotton contains Cry genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (hence Bt) that is highly toxic to bollworm caterpillars, identified as the main cotton pest. The Bt technology, first developed by Monsanto Company in 1986, came to India in 2002 when the American seed giant entered into an agreement with its Indian partner, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company or Mahyco.
Within four years of its introduction, Bt cotton reduced insecticide use to half the previous level. And for farmers the returns were extraordinary. Some researchers estimate the net average gains from Bt cotton to be in the range of $76 (Rs 3,370 at current conversion rate) to $250 (Rs 11,086) per hectare.
While yields did go up from an average 302 kg per hectare in 2002-03 to 554 kg in 2007-08, productivity has been stagnant for the past five years, according to the chief of the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Keshav Kranthi. CICR is the country’s leading research institution for cotton and has been trying to develop its own transgenic varieties.
The yield was 463 kg per hectare when the Bt cotton area was 5.6 per cent in 2004 and reached a mere 506 kg per hectare when the area under Bt cotton increased to 9.4 million hectares, that is 85 per cent of the total 11.1 million hectares currently under cotton cultivation.
New pathogens, such as ‘leaf streak virus’, have started affecting the new Bt hybrids. Insect populations of mealybugs, gall midges, mosquito bugs and safflower caterpillars, which were hitherto unknown, have also emerged as concerns.
Indian cotton clearly needs some urgent remedies.
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