The government is working on an agreement with a leading foreign seed company for introducing latest biotech cotton related technologies, which is being grown in many parts of Sindh and Punjab.
According to a survey conducted by Institute of Agri-Biotechnology and Genetic Resources National Agriculture Research Centre in 10 districts of Sindh, the cotton growers and the textile industry showed their willingness for the introduction of Bt Cotton in the country.
The institute surveyed and collected samples of cotton from 42 different locations in Sindh including Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Mirpur Khas, Dera Allah Yar, Umer Kot, Matiari, Khairpur, Sukkur and Nowshero Feroze. In Punjab 11 districts including Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Bhawalpur, R.Y. Khan, Vehari, Bhawalnagar, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Jhang, and Faisalabad were surveyed and samples were collected from 84 different locations.
"As plantation of the Bt cotton helps in reducing expenditure on pesticide and raises per acre yield, farmers have brought in Australian seeds and are using them since a couple of years," a cotton grower explained.
According to an another report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), planting of biotech crops in 2007 grew by 12 percent or 12.3 million hectares (30 million acres) to reach a record planting of 114.3 million hectares (282.4 million acres). The Bt Cotton plantation in India has also increased from just 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 6.2 million hectares.
The number of farmers opting for sowing Bt cotton also surged from 54,000 in 2002 to 3.8 million in 2007. The ISAAA reports that farmers in many countries are planting more biotech crops than ever before. Two new countries, Chile and Poland, were included in the list of 23 countries where farmers planted biotech crops in 2007.
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