Bt cotton covers around 90 percent of the total area under cotton cultivation in India, Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat informed the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament.
According to a study undertaken by the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), of the total 12.191 million hectares of area under cotton cultivation in the country, around 10.98 million hectares is under Bt cotton, he said.
Mr. Rawat negated the claims that multinational firms exercise a hold over cotton seeds and said that firms of Indian origin hold a majority stake in cotton seeds to the extent of about 90 percent.
He informed that presently the farmers in India have an option to choose from over 800 varieties of Bt hybrid seeds which are vended by over 50 seed companies.
India is likely to produce 35.6 million cotton bales in 2011-12 season, up from 32.5 million bales produced during last season.
The rise in area under Bt cotton cultivation has been observed in all leading cotton cultivating States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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