The view was aired at the 24th AGM of the association held at Coimbatore last week. According to the association, speedy mechanisation would reduce cost of cotton production. It has also raised apprehensions about the success of plan to cultivate cotton in waste lands.

Sima-CDRA claims that waste land development would require enormous funds and efforts to make it productive. This would call for long term planning. With regard to hybrid seed production the association feels it may not be a lasting solution for increasing cotton production because of being labour intensive.

Moreover, the association also feels the focus should be on increasing plant productivity rather than increasing the area under productionIncreased cotton cultivation would be possible only if the commoditydoes not face competition from other cash crops. The association has made a strong statement with regard to efforts to increase cotton production in Tamil Nadu. ``We do not find any reason why the farmers should increase the area (under cotton cultivation) without strong incentive or attractive income.'' the chairman stated during his address at the AGM.

Calling for intensifying research pursuit in molecular biology and genetic engineering, he said other countries are emphasising on development of transgenic cotton with inbuilt resistance of varied biotic and abiotic stresses and improved fibre quality traits. The wide variation in fibre qualities results in inferior quality textile products. The current popular varieties like MCU 5, LRA 5166, MCU 7 and DCH 32 need improvement towards consistent fibre qualities.