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Even with India catching up with the global average let it be understood that there is no room for complacency. This is evident from the fact that during 2005-06 the country led the world in cultivated area (8.87 million hectare) but in productivity India was far behind with 469.4 kg. lint / ha. compared with 1140 kg. / ha. incase of China and 1806 kg. / ha. incase of Australia where as 931 kg. / ha. incase of USA as rightly observed by Dr. Sudalaimuthu and Senthil Kumar in their scholastic contribution appearing in this issue covering a superb overview of Cotton and Cotton Textiles in India. Thus to catch on with the best in the world in terms of per hectare production India has to travel a long long distance.
Let it also be understood that even the current performance of the country owes a great deal to the revolution which made Bt seeds becoming available as the first Genetically Modified seeds with superior qualities being introduced in India. This Bt seeds are created by inserting a gene (Cry 1Ac) from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis into a plant cell. This gene is supposed to provide resistance to bollworm the most persistent pest as far as cotton crop is concerned. This saves the farmer several rounds of pesticides spray to ward off this pest menace. It also in a process contributes towards a better yield. Technologically Bt is different from hybrid as basically it aims at engineering the genetic structure of the plant using a gene of a different source. This experiment began in 2002 with government of India approving commercialization of three verities of Bt cotton developed by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech. Initially there was lot of uproar with the prophets of the doom spreading a scare predicting draconian possibilities and scare. However farmers have taken to this genetically modified crop with wide spread acceptance of Bt seeds. The predictions that the multinationals will establish a strangle hold over the Indian agriculture exploiting the farmers do not stand much ground today as number of GM Bt Cotton Hybrids are available for sowing today stands around 111 with a dozen players supplying the market. In fact nearly half of India's acreage under cotton crop is under Bt ! Needless to say this has helped India improve the per acre average yield continuously. Let us however not forget that there are some studies which indicate that the desired results were not possible incase of rain fed areas of central India with marginal farmers. The Bt crop needs regular irrigation and timely dose of fertilizers making it more resource intensive perhaps explains the difference between the prosperous cotton farmers in Gujarat and large scale debt driven suicides amongst the farmers in the rain fed central India covering the cotton belts in the states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. On the other hand Gujarat which produces one third of the cotton crop of this country has taken to the Swadeshi Bt like fish taking to the waters to produce record crop. It is understood that around 79 varieties of Bt cotton are approved by the state which provides the farmers the seed input at a substantial cost advantage. As per the estimate available from the Cotton Advisory Board Gujarat would produce 110 lakh bales compared to 310 lakh bales estimated production for the country. In fact in Gujarat the cotton has replaced the traditional ground nut crop creating its own problems on the edible oil front. For the year 2007 the area under cotton crop has touch 25 lakh hectare compared to 23 lakh hectare last year. This is the fourth consecutive year when Gujarat would improve upon the earlier record by a considerable margin. Gujarat success story however is not without its own black spots. The area under cotton crop in South Gujarat is decreasing because of a massive Mili Bug attack last year. In Saurashtra where cotton is replacing ground nut the spread of Mili Bug has just started causing serious concerns. However there are many lessons to be learnt from Gujarat experiment as the agriculture minister Gujarat Bhupendrasinh Chudasama fondly observed during the personal communication - "While there are incidences of suicides by the cotton farmers elsewhere in the country in Gujarat a cotton farmer buys a Maruti Esteem every year !" While one may discount the statement as one would always incase of a politician the fact that basically the thrift and prudence makes Gujarat farmer operating at far more lower costs resulting into a good per hectare profit compared to his counter part in central India was endorsed by another well studied politician turned economist and the national president of Consortium of Indian Farmers Association Shri Sanat Mehta who also happens to be a former finance minister and a state leader who spear headed the cotton growers movement in the state fighting for better terms.
As it appears the Gujarat experiment with the swadeshi Bt seeds and the traditional thrift and prudence of the farmers has paid reach dividends. This has helped Gujarat emerging as the single largest cotton producing state with almost 33 per cent share in the country. This happened because Gujarat took a bold decision to encourage the experimentation with Bt cotton standing like a rock behind the progressive farmers when orders were passed by the centre to destroy the Bt cotton crop ! To that extent I think the farmer community in Gujarat in particular and the country in general must fill grateful to the state agriculture department for their bold stand promoting the innovation. Gujarat cotton today also fetches a premium even with the shrewd Chinese buyers. There is nothing wrong in adopting whatever good is happening anywhere so far it is in the wider interest of the community and the nation. This is because we are a civilization which is taught to submit themselves to the reason and except any good thought coming from any direction. It is in this sense the chanting of the mantra - Aa No Bhadra Rutvo Yantu Vishwatah ! meaning that let good thoughts come to me from all directions !
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