Cotton hybrids yield more, says study

Genetically modified (GMO) cotton hybrids in India improved yields by 29 per cent over traditional varieties last year, according to a survey released by ACNielsen ORG-MARG today.

The study commissioned by a Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India), a Monsanto joint venture, and conducted by ACNielsen ORG-MARG, a unit of the publishing and information group VNU, said GMO cotton produced 768 kg per acre, compared with 596 kg from conventional crops.

Advocates of GMO crops say developing countries, with smaller-scale farms and relatively poorer farmers, will benefit most from transgenic crops. But environmental organisations say they are bad for the environment and should be banned.

India opened the door to GMO technology in 2002 after trials. It allowed Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co (Mahyco), in which US biotech giant Monsanto Co owns a 26 per cent stake, to sell three hybrids of GMO cotton.

Net profit of those farmers who grew GMO cotton was 78 percent more than people with non-GMO varieties, said the study.

In 2003, the country grew transgenic cotton hybrids on about 215,000 acres of land, mainly in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in southern India, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the western part of the country and the central Madhya Pradesh state.

The area under GMO cotton is expected to rise to more than 700,000 acres this year, industry officials said. India's total area under cotton is about 22 million acres. India produces about 2.7 million tonnes of cotton annually.