*From large exporter to net importer: India’s looming cotton crisis.*
BT cotton, a GM variety once glorified as white gold, has run its course. This lies at the heart of the crunch. It no longer defends against pests.
New Delhi: The current summer-sown season will be his last tryst with cotton, a crop that once brought prosperity in his entire village, said Kailash Rao Kadam, a 55-year-old grower from western Maharashtra.
Although farmers like him commonly face fluctuations in profits, the lowest prices in three years, which cotton buyers however deem high because the fibre is much cheaper abroad, and a decline in productivity have convinced Kadam to switch to something else.
The worsening terms of trade has turned India, a large exporter, into a net importer. Cotton imports this year, at 300,000 bales, have outweighed its exports of 1,700,000 bales. “If I continue with cotton, it will make me a beggar,” Kadam said over the phone from Aurangabad.
The popular BT cotton, a genetically-modified variety once glorified as white gold, has run its course. This lies at the heart of the crunch. It no longer defends against pests, having lost its effectiveness over the years, and alternatives are few and far between.
Many farmers, especially in Punjab, have switched to desi (traditional) varieties to fend off voracious whiteflies, which can devour whole fields overnight, said Joginder Dhinsa, a grower from Mansa.
The crisis has deepened this year because the government has allowed duty-free imports for a four-month period until December to cushion the textile sector, battling losses amid high domestic prices of the fibre. The highly labour-intensive sector is also bracing for the worst impacts of US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff.
A inter-ministerial meeting last week acknowledged the need for a technology breakthrough soon enough and reviewed implementation of a five-year cotton productivity mission worth ₹2500 crore announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s Union Budget.
The slide in cotton output is alarming. In the 2024-25, the country is expected to produce 29.4 million bales (of 170 kg each), the lowest in more than a decade. At the peak of BT cotton’s successful run in 2013-14, output stood at 39.8 million bales.
The cotton productivity mission will focus on developing “climate-smart, pest-resistant, and high-yielding cotton varieties, including extra long Staple (ELS) cotton, using advanced breeding and biotechnology tools”, an official said.
“Biotechnology tools” mean India could give a go ahead to an upgraded or next generation home-grown GM technology in cotton, although the government is against allowing transgenic food crops.
Notes from the review meet showed that GM upgrades in the pipeline include field trials of a proprietary ‘BioCotX24A1’ transgenic technology of Bioseed Research India Ltd. The company has sought permission for a second round of field trials from Genetic Engineering Assessment Committee, the GM regulator.
Another firm, Rasi Seeds Pvt Ltd, has sought clearances for first-stage field trials for a gene that is aimed to give protection against the pink bollworm, the main pest BT cotton was meant to kill.
“The government is also looking at modernising 1000 ginning mills to bolster the sector under the plan announced as part of the budget,” an official said.
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