Returns to Bt. Cotton vis-a-vis Traditional Cottea Varieties in Gujarat State

摘要

Cotton is one of the principle cash crops of India. India has the largest cotton area in the world (26% of world) but it occupies third place in production. Cotton in-India is mainly suffering from low productivity which is only 315 kg.lint/hect. against the world average of 627 kg.lint/hect. Major cotton producing States in India are Maharashtra, Gujarat, A.P., Punjab, Karnataka and M.P. in India, cotton growing farmers are facing various constraints and problems. Besides rainfed cultivation, the insects/pests attack in cotton is one of the worst problem among all crops. The main cotton pest is bollworm and largest quantity of pesticides is applied to prevent yield and quality loss of cotton, sometimes with negligible success. As per estimate, cotton uses about 54 per cent of India's total pesticides consumption. The spraying of pesticides is not only increasing the cost of cultivation, but it is also reducing the rate of return. Because of these reasons, cotton cultivation became increasingly uneconomical in India and farmers went off cotton in a big way in the 90's. But after introduction of Bt. (Bacillus Thuringiensis) cotton in the year 2002, farmers came back to cotton cultivation