Bt cotton still effective to control bollworms; crop covers 88% of total cultivation area in kharif season: Govt

New Delhi: Bt cotton technology is still helpful in controlling bollworms, except for pink ones, the government said on Friday. “Bt cotton technology was originally meant for controlling bollworms per se, in cotton and the Bt technology is still offering good control for bollworms (except pink bollworm Spodopetra litura) for the past 16 years,” Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. The minister was replying to a query on whether genetically engineered Bt cotton has failed in the country. In the current kharif season of 2018-19 crop year, he said around 88.27 percent of the 122.38 lakh hectares cotton area is under Bt cotton. “Farmers are being advised to follow integrated crop nutrient management, integrated pest management and optimum of higher plan density in the fields to get higher yield,” Shekhawat said.