Biotechnology Industry












BT cotton to gain India's cotton area

According to Kishorilal Jhunjhunwala, president of the East India Cotton Association, the genetically modified cotton had covered 9.1
million hectares of total area for cotton production in 2006-07 with good yield and prices.

The genetically modified cotton covered 35% of the total area with cotton yield rising to 500 Kg per hectare. Farmers are aggressively buying Monsanto Company's BT cottonseeds, which help fight bollworms, a major worry for Indian farmers.

It is estimated that the domestic cotton production will go up to 27 million bales and the total
cotton export would cross 4 million bales by September 2007. But the environmental groups have opposed BT seeds claiming that they deplete bio-diversity.