First Bt Cotton Grown in Pakistan

Cotton is an important cash crop for Pakistan known as “white gold”. It accounts for 8.2 percent of the value added in agriculture and about 3.2 percent to GDP; around two thirds of the country’s export earnings are from the cotton made-up and textiles which adds over $2.5 billion to the national economy; while hundreds of ginning factories and textile mills in the country heavily depends upon cotton. Life of millions of farmers is dependent on this crop, in addition to millions of people employed along the entire cotton value chain, from weaving to textile and garment exports The area under the cultivation of cotton crops has been increased significantly in the last 30 years - around 7.85 million acres in 2005-06 as compared to 7.2 million acres in 2002-03. Beside being the world’s fourth-largest cotton producer and the third largest exporter of raw cotton and a leading exporter of yarn in the world our yield per acres ranks 13th in the world; as a result Pakistan annually imports around 1.5-2.00 million bales of cotton to meet growing demand from local textile mills; therefore it has become vital for Pakistan to increase its yield per acre.

Agriculture biotechnology is helping today to provide people with more and better crops, food and holds even greater promise for the future. Green revolution farming methods are coming to an end with declining yields due to environmental and soil degradation, loss of seedling varieties and high input costs. So, many farmers around the world are turning to genetic engineered varieties (GE) to confront with new challenges. Many Asian countries including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam are giving high priority to plant biotechnology research in the hope of addressing the pressing challenges related to improving productivity, farmers livelihoods, driving rural development, and meeting food security demands. Many of these countries focus their biotechnology research on food crops and non food crops and crops of high commercial value in the hope of meeting increasing food requirements and reducing use of pesticides and poverty alleviation in rural area.

Farmers, who cultivated these Bt cotton varieties at heart of cotton growing regions in Punjab - Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzaffer Garh and Karor Pakka; observed and evaluated independently its resistance and susceptibility to different pests including factors like abiotic stress and yield than compared it with non Bt cotton varieties grown in the same locations. A large number of farmers have visited these fields, and become aware of the benefits of the locally developed Bt cotton.

Today, all major cotton producing countries are benefiting from the cultivation of Bt Cotton. In the last season 54 percent of cotton crops grown in USA, 76 percent in China and 80 percent in Australia were with “single” or “double” Bt gene technology. India, the world’s third-largest cotton-grower has cultivated 1.36 million acres of Bt cotton crops. It is expected that within two years more than half the world’s cotton may be grown from genetically modified crops.

Pakistan also realizes the significance of Bt Cotton, and the top political leadership including the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz himself has said to a delegation of farmers that government would allow farmers to grow Bt cotton soon, which confirms government’s policy of being open to genetically modified crops in the near future. Other ministers have also spoken in favor of adopting the Bt Cotton.

In May 2005 PAEC provided 40,000.00 Kg basic seed of Bt cotton (insect resistant) varieties “IR-FH-901”, “IR-NIBGE-2”, “IR-CIM-448” and “IR-CIM-443”; which have been grown over 8,000 acres of land in season 2005-06. Its encouraging outcomes have surprised every one from seed companies to the farmers who cultivated these varieties. These early users of Bt cotton have been tightly screened and evaluated by PAEC on the bases of their capacity to follow Bio-safety rules.