Ahmedabad, India
April 22, 2008
By Kalpesh Damor,
Business Standard
via
Checkbiotech
If every thing falls in place,
farmers will have the option of sowing a new variety of short
staple BT cotton, which has seen a decline in production in
recent years.
Nagpur-based Central Institute for
Cotton Research (CICR), a part of the
Indian Council of Agriculture
Research, is in the process of developing the variety, which
would, perhaps, be the first such variety in the world.
The advent of BT cotton in India has seen an increasing number
of farmers turning to it for better returns.
This has led to a drop in the production of short and long
staple cotton. Lower production has fuelled the prices of short
staple cotton by 20 per cent. Prices currently stand at Rs
17,000 to Rs 18,000 a candy. They stood at Rs 14,000 a candy
last year.
CICR has selected the RG-8 variety to be converted into a BT
variety. The variety will have fibre length of 18 mm. Cotton
with fibre length less than 20 mm is termed as the short staple
variety.
Medium staple, long and extra long staple cotton have fiber
length of 25 to 30 mm, 30 to 37 mm, and 37 mm and above,
respectively.
The institute is currently carrying out multi-location field
trials. “However, the new variety will have to get the Review
Committee on Genetically Modified Organisms’ (RCGMO) approval
for large-scale field trials. It will take atleast two years for
commercial release of the variety,” said B M Khadi, director,
CICR.
The variety will also have to go through a bio-safety test
before release. In fact, CICR wants to develop BT varieties for
all categories. The institute is ready with the Bikaneri Narma
variety, a medium staple variety, and has received RCGMO’s
approval for large-scale field trials.
“The institute is also looking at undertaking field trials of
its long staple BT cotton variety,” he added. Unlike existing BT
seeds in the market, farmers will be able to use seeds recovered
from existing crop for next season.
The development assumes importance in the wake of declining
production of short staple cotton not only in India but across
the globe.
“BT cotton seeds are known to have better output. Availability
of BT short staple would lead to rise in short staple production
in the country,” said D K Nair, secretary general, Confederation
of Indian Textile Industry (CITI).
Currently, out of the total cotton output of over 31.6 million
bales in the country, 70 per cent is medium staple cotton,
thanks to the availability of the BT cotton variety.
Kalyan V-797, J-34, F-414 and Bengal Deshi, which are mainly
rainfed crops, fall under the short staple variety.
Increased preference for BT cotton, which falls under the medium
staple category, had led to decline in the production of short
staple cotton. Short staple cotton production in India hovered
around 8 million bales in 2006-07, which dipped 50 per cent in
2007-08.
“The fall is expected to continue. All over the world,
production of short staple has been declining. America, Russia
and Uzbekistan are one of the major short staple growing
countries in the world,” said Arun Dalal of Arun Dalal and Co.
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