No country on earth cultivates more
cotton than India.1 . According to official
figures from the Ministries of Agriculture
and Textile, 10.3 million hectares (ha)
of cotton were sowed in India during
the 2009 – 2010 growing season.2 This
is a significant increase compared to
one decade earlier: between 1991 and
2002, the total Indian hectarage for
cotton cultivation varied between 7.4
and 9.3 million ha (figure 1A). During the
2002 – 2003 and 2003 – 2004 growing
seasons there was even a dip, with 7.7
and 7.6 million ha respectively. This was
followed by a systematic increase to
more than 10 million ha in 2009 – 2010.
This growth shows no sign of ending
either. In October 2012, the same
ministries estimated that the total area
for cotton cultivation increased to 11.2
million ha during the 2010 – 2011 growing
season, an increase of 7 % compared to
the previous year. The expected figures
for 2011 – 2012 will be truly historic: 12.2
million ha will be sown, which is 18 %
more than in the two previous growing
seasons.
Even more telling is the increase in the
production (yellow line in figure 1B).
Between 1991 and 2003 production varied
between 11.9 and 17.9 million bales of 170
kg. Since then, production has increased
steadily to more than 30 million bales (in
2007 – 2008 and 2009 – 2010). This figure
is expected to reach 35.3 million bales
for 2011 – 2012. The increase is partly due
to the expansion of the cultivation area,
but to a greater extent it is due to an
improvement in the yield per ha (blue line
in figure 1B): this rose from approximately
300 kg/ha in the period 1991 – 2003 to over
500 kg/ha since 2006 – 2007.
In a recent report3, the Indian Office of
the Textile Commissioner suggests
two reasons to explain this increase
in productivity: the widespread use of
Bt cotton (see editorial) and the use of
“good agricultural practices” including
fertilizer and optimum water use. “The
synergy between both factors has
resulted in a remarkable increase in
yield”, according to the report, “the
expectation is that the current high
productivity will at least be maintained.”