COTTON SUPREMACY-A NEW PHENOMENON

In recent times no other crop has shown spectacular progress as like cotton in India.Thanks to BT technology,cotton now is the third highest sown acerage wise after Rice & Wheat. Of course this has something to do with spiking of international cotton prices.According to a rough estimate Indias cotton crop is worth $ 14 billion .Infact this year the farmers across India have roughly earned 54000 - 85000 per hectare which is substantial as compared to other cultivated crops.But the problem with this is that every added cotton acerage would lead to reduction in sowing areas of important oilseeds & pulses crops. This is where the policy planners have to be very much aware of the flight of acerage .Of course nothing can be done about this because ultimately commerce prevails,but still adminstrative measures can be initiated to stem this flight.With this regard the important focus could be high yeilding varieties of seeds which can do a revolution in oilseeds & pulses as BT did to cotton. Already there is a talk of higher acerage area for cotton this year seeing the profitability of the crop . With virtually no additional scope of bringing more area into Agriculture it has to come at the expanse of other crops. So the much needed food security might be at peril.It would be interesting to note the future progression of cotton as contrasted to other crops.