Pawar bats for GM cotton

NEW DELHI: There is an immediate need to explore hybrid varieties of cotton and adopt new technologies to ensure high yield and contain production costs, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said early this week. ���The per hectare productivity needs to be improved drastically, hybrid varieties need to be explored,��� Similarly, he said, GM crops also provide vitamins which are vital for humans.



���More area needs to be irrigated, and utilised for cultivation of cotton. Ideally, two rounds of cropping could be supported annually,��� he said. ���Even GM Cotton could be tried out,��� he added. He pointed out that in spite of the ban on Bt cotton seeds, Punjab farmers have procured it from Gujarat and Maharashtra. As far as GM crops are concerned, cotton is the only one in the country that is allowed for commercial cultivation.