18.01.2012 | permalink
most of the Bt cotton hybrids available are for long staple cotton; thus, there has been a distortion in the output mix — and therefore in the availability of cotton of differing staple lengths and lint qualities, required for various end-uses. Extra long staple cotton, for example, is needed to make top-of-the line fabric, and its harvest is now just a tenth of what it was in 2003-04. Short staple cotton, which is used in hospitals for surgical purposes and by household industries for making quilts and mattresses, has also become scarce, with its output halving. Equally disquieting is the impact on the pest regime of the universal adoption of Bt seeds.