The Hindu Business Line : TN farmers take to Bt cotton in a big way

Perambalur, Jan. 28 N. Venkatachalam, a cotton farmer in Venpaavur village near Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, has not seen any change in the price that he has been getting for cotton in the last 10 years. “But I am making more money now than ever before,” he said.

The farmer was talking to reporters on a trip organised by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd to a cotton field in one of the largest cotton growing areas in the district. The company was showcasing the benefits of using Bollgard II, genetically-modified cotton hybrid resistant to the bollworms and the caterpillar, Spodoptera.

Mr Venkatachalam has over 10 acres under Bollgard, which is resistant to bollworms, and another acre under Bollgard II. The genetically-modified cotton is the only reason farmers have taken to cotton cultivation in the area over the last three years. They had given up on cotton earlier because of continuous pest attack and heavy usage of pesticides made cotton unviable.

In 1995, the farmers got over Rs 23 a kg of cotton and now more than a decade later they get around Rs 26. The difference is that they save on over 15 rounds of pesticide treatment which costs about Rs 200 an acre each time. Today, they just use the pesticide spray two or three times. Fewer pests out breaks also mean a higher yield. Together, these account for a profit of over Rs 10,000 an acre, says Mr Venkatachalam.

His enthusiasm is shared by other farmers in the area.

Mr S. Kamaraj, of neighbouring Sirugambur village, says they had heard about Bollgard after the company had campaigned in the area. Though they had initially mixed feelings about genetically-modified cotton, the experience of the last three years has instilled confidence.

The area under cotton is only limited by the availability of seeds, he says.

Another farmer, Mr J. Ponnar of Venpavur, is a new convert to genetically-modified cotton – he has waited three years to check out what others have gone through. This year he is waiting to harvest his field.

Perambalur is a sampling of what is going on in Tamil Nadu says, Mr Gnanapugalenthi, Regional Sales Manager – Cotton Traits, Monsanto India Ltd. There has been a 30 per cent jump in the area under Bollgard cotton in the last one year with 2.85 lakh acres under this crop. Across the nine cotton-growing States, the growth since 2005 has been similar with 14.4 million acres under cultivation now against 3.1 million acres earlier.

Genetically modified cotton is here to stay, he says.

More Stories on : Cotton | Bio-tech & Genetics | Cultivation | Tamil Nadu

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