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Textile Ministry favours Bt cotton

M.R. Subramani

CHENNAI, Nov. 1

THE Textile Ministry favours acceleration of commercial production of bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton in the country in order to help the mills get the required variety and reduce imports.

If the Textile Ministry has its way, then development of Bt cotton would be taken up in the mini-mission I of the Technology Mission on Cotton (TCM).

Official sources told Business Line that the Cotton Advisory Board, which comprises representatives of growers, industry, traders and the Government, had at its recent meeting passed a resolution to speed up introduction of Bt cotton in the country. Bt c otton is a variety that is known to fight the boll worm, a scourge that has hit the crop in North India this season. The cotton derives its name from the gene that is inserted to repel the pests. This genetically modified (GM) cotton has had its registra tion renewed recently by the Environment Protection Agency of the US for five years.

The developments come hand-in-hand with the controversy over the raising of genetically modified (GM) cotton in Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra. Seeds of this variety had reportedly been sold in Andhra Pradesh also. GM cotton had reportedly been grown w ithout the approval of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. On Wednesday, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which functions under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, asked the Gujarat Government to destroy the GM cotton an d compensate the growers. Earlier in June this year, GEAC had ordered that the trial on Bt cotton be done again in view of various issues raised at various fora.

Cotton traders have also voiced their views on Bt cotton. They have said the country should adopt the latest science of agricultural bio-technology to reap benefits of higher yield and reduction in crop losses.

According to the sources, the general reaction to Bt cotton in the country has been rather emotional, mainly due to the aversion towards multinational companies and foreign investment.

Regretting that development of Bt cotton has been slow in view of fears expressed in various quarters, the sources said China took only 18 months to complete the procedure of field trial and commercial exploitation of Bt cotton in a big way.

In India, this process has already taken six years and it is still incomplete. Nearly 40 per cent of the area under cotton in the US and Australia has been covered by Bt variety, they said.

The textiles industry, on the other hand, is keen on Bt cotton in view of the fast-changing technology. Cotton quality has to keep pace with this and this is one of the reasons for the mills to resort to imports, industry sources said.