AP cotton growers taking on slump with BT yield

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Warangal, AP, Nov 9 : Borala Lengeleya, a small farmer with only two acres of agricultural land from Sivagi Nagar village in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh is not perturbed by the plummeting prices of cotton in the international market.

With the yield increasing manifold in the last few years, Legeigla is still not considering quitting cotton farming but also has taken up two more acre on lease to plant Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) cotton seeds, which has successfully fought dreaded bollwarms.

He knows that despite prices of cotton, which has come down from a high of Rs 3,400 per quintal during June-July to around Rs 2,800 per quintal at present, he would still make money. “In the pre-BT cotton seed era, I used to work in other paddy field for making a living as yield from the field was low,” he said.

After the significant increase in yield following introduction of Bollgard—1, a single gene technology introduced in 2002, Lengeleya has not only built a house but also purchased two bullocks to support him in farming. Due to introduction of Bollgard— I cotton seed owned by US-based bio technology company Monsanto in 2002, yield has estimated to have increased from 6 quintals per acre during the pre-BT days to around 14-15 quintals per acre at present. Farmers in Sivagi Nagar village told FE that after the introduction of Bollagard—II, a double gene technology seed last year, the yield increased further.

Another farmer Malegoan Subrao, who owns five acres of land said after introduction of Bollgard I & II, migration from Sivagi Nagar has virtually stopped due to high yield and better returns. Out of 600 acres of Sivagi nagar’s agricultural land, more than 400 acres have been taken up for cotton cultivation. “In the pre-BT era, we did not know about the expected yield as there was always fear about the destructive American Bollwarm pest attacks,” Subarao said.

According to an analysis of inputs cost against yield arrived after interacting to many cotton farmers in Sivagi Nagar village on Friday by FE, it was revealed that during pre BT time or before 2002, the input costs—seed, fertiliser, pesticides, labour cost etc was to the tune of Rs 18,600 per acre while the yield was only around 6 quintals per acre.