Bt cotton acreage zooms over 70%

North zone registers the highest growth.

The unprecedented rise in Bt cotton acreage during the 2007-08 crop year helped the country produce 31 million bales (1 bale = 170kg) of cotton.

The hybrid variety captured over two-thirds of the cotton growing area this year compared with a little over one-third of the area in the previous cotton year. 

GENE THERAPY Acreage under Bt cotton and non Bt cotton in 2007-08
Zone	Acreage (mn hectares)		Variation(%)
	Bt cotton	Non Bt cotton	Bt cotton	Non Bt cotton
North	0.87 (0.33)	0.62 (1.16)	168.92	-46.64
Central	4.37 (2.60)	2.00 (3.48)	68.00	-42.87
South	1.08 (0.77)	0.50 (0.70)	40.94	-27.64
*Figures in brackets are of last year Source : CAB estimates

The acreage under Bt cotton increased to 6.33 million hectares in the current cotton year from 3.69 million hectares last year, up 71.25 per cent. The total acreage stood at 9.53 million hectares, up 4.23 per cent from the last year's 9.14 million hectares.

According to J N Singh, Textile Commissioner and Chairman of the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB), the trend in Bt cotton is likely to continue.

The northern zone (comprising Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan), registered the fastest rise in Bt cotton acreage by more than doubling the area from 0.33 million hectares to 0.87 million hectares, up 169 per cent.

The central zone (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) and the southern zone (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) increased Bt cotton acreage by 68 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the acreage under non Bt cotton has shrunk by over 41 per cent to 3.2 million hectares from 5.45 million hectares during the period.

The northern zone saw the highest decline of 46.6 per cent in the area under non Bt cotton, followed by central and southern zones where acreage dropped by 42.9 per cent and 27.6 per cent, respectively.

The use of hybrid cotton resulted in better yield per hectare. According to the first estimates of CAB, the average yield for the current year was 553.05 kg per hectare against 520.67 kg per hectare last year.

The officials in the Ministry of Textiles maintained that the production estimates are on the conservative side and the actual production, they said, could reach 32 million bales in the current year. This would mean a jump of 14.3 per cent over the last year's output of 28 million bales.

At a time when global cotton production is showing a declining trend, increased domestic production would enable the country to export cotton after meeting local requirements.

The country is expected to export 6.5 million bales, of which 5 million bales have already been contracted so far. The country's own consumption, including that of mills, non mills and small scale units will be around 24.5 million bales. The closing stock at the close of the current cotton year is estimated at 5.4 million bales against last year's 4.75 million bales.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has maintained an upbeat view in its projections for the year 2008-09 on cotton production from India.

As per the latest statistics from ICAC, the production in the next cotton year will reach 33.2 million bales in the country, with yield increasing to 589 kg per hectare from the current 553 kg per hectare.