Bt cotton regains farmers' confidence, acreage under crop goes up to 93.6%

With this, the insect resistant transgenic crop has regained farmers' confidence which had been shaken three years ago

The total acreage under Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton jumped to 93.5 per cent this kharif sowing season after falling to 90 per cent three years ago. 

A Kotak Securities’ Commodity Insight report highlights India’s total cotton acreage under Bt at 11.7 million ha during the current kharif sowing season. Total area under non-Bt cotton was reported at 0.8 million ha. Data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture estimates total area under cotton sowing this year at 12.5 million ha as of August 31, a rise of 7.3 per cent from the previous year.

Farmers were encouraged by two major factors