Growing genetically modified Bt cotton hybrids is not the only way to bag high yields. Other agronomic methods have now emerged for reaping copious harvests of this natural fibre, even in the wholly rain-dependent areas where cotton is largely cultivated in India. An outstanding new technology is the “high-density cotton planting system”, evolved by Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR). This new system, which involves sowing a relatively higher number of plants a hectare, has been found to almost double the yield of cotton, even in an area like Vidharba, Maharashtra, which is infamous for farmer suicides owing to frequent failures of unirrigated cotton crops.