Bt Cotton in Maharashtra: MEC report PART 2 (13/4/2006) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
Amongst the Bt Cotton farmers in the sample, the following were the seed varieties studied:
Amongst the non-Bt Cotton farmers, around 40 different non-Bt Cotton hybrids were used by the 120 farmers in the sample. While the average seed price for Bt Cotton was Rs. 1694/- per packet [which is usually equivalent for one acre], the seed price for non-Bt Cotton on an average was Rs. 438.30/- per acre.
In 2005, the sowing took place from 10th June to 25th July amongst the sample Bt Cotton farmers. Amongst the non-Bt Cotton farmers, sowing took place between 12th June to 21st July, except for one farmer who had sown on 28th May, under well irrigation. Media reports about an unusual virus attack began in September 2005. There was reddening of leaves and plants along with stunted growth reported from various pockets. Different kinds of reasons were attributed to the situation. While some organizations reported that the lalya disease was because of micro-nutrient deficiencies [especially of boron and magnesium], others said it was a viral attack by Tobacco Streak Virus. Yet others said that it was a severe attack of sucking pests. This was a condition that persisted throughout the season with an improvement only towards the end of December. The Maharashtra government has accepted that the low production of Bt Cotton is due to lalya disease but is not accepting that this disease may have any related to the Bt technology. There is no systematic or scientific comparison between the incidence of lalya in Bt Cotton and its incidence on non-Bt Cotton. Scientists at the Cotton Research Centre in Nanded said that due to higher number of bolls, Bt Cotton needs more micro-nutrients and that the disease might have occurred due to low availability of these micro-nutrients.
During 8 visits made to the selected 165 Bt Cotton fields and 120 non-Bt Cotton fields throughout the season, 20 plants randomly selected per acre were studied for the number of squares, flowers and bolls present per plant as well as for the shedding of the same by each plant. Averages for each visit were calculated, pest-wise. The following are the results from the recordings averaged for the 8 visits made during the season.
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