Last week, Greenpeace’s chief in India, Samit Aich, wrote a
column in ET on genetically-modified crops. In this, he repeated
an old green falsehood, that Bt cotton has failed to raise
cotton yields in India. For the truth, consult the government’s
Economic Survey 2011-12 (see accompanying graphic). India’s
cotton yield was 225 kg per hectare in 1990-91. It fell to 190
kg per hectare in 2000-01, a bad monsoon year. Bt cotton
cultivation began in 2002, and its acreage shot up from 0.29
million hectares in 2002 to 9.4 million hectares in 2011-12. By
this time, the Bt variety accounted for 90% of cotton acreage.
The result? Cotton yield rose to 362 kg per hectare in 2005-06,
and then increased further with fluctuations to 510 kg per
hectare in 2010-11. In a decade, the yield more than doubled.
The truth is clear. Bt cotton has raised yields hugely.
Greenpeaceand other activists lack the honesty to admit they
were wrong. Instead, they desperately search for studies showing
poor Bt cotton results in some conditions