Bt Cotton in Maharashtra: MEC report PART 2 (13/4/2006)

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

  1. Seed Varieties Sown

Amongst the Bt Cotton farmers in the sample, the following were the seed varieties studied:

Bt Cotton hybrid

Number of farmers who had sown it [n=165]

RCH 2 Bt Cotton of Rasi Seeds

77

MECH 184 Bt Cotton of Mahyco Seeds

47

MECH 162 Bt Cotton of Mahyco Seeds

14

Bunny Bt Cotton of Nuziveedu Seeds

09

MRC 6301 Bt Cotton of Mahyco Seeds

08

MECH 12 Bt Cotton of Mahyco Seeds

04

Shakti 9 Bt Cotton of Rasi Seeds, marketed by Pro-Agro

04

Ankur 651 Bt Cotton of Ankur Seeds

01

RCH 144 Bt Cotton of Rasi Seeds

01

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.

  1. General Condition of the Crop

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.

  1. Flowers, Squares and Bolls

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.

 

Bt Cotton

Non-Bt Cotton

Avg. Number of flowers per plant

23.375

23.125

Avg. Number of Squares per plant

25.125

28.063

Avg. Number of Bolls per plant

29.875

32.061

Source:


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