Until the turn of the century, the cultivation
of cotton led a changeable existence in India.
Good harvests were mixed in with failures.
However, the Indian cotton cultivation has
been on the up over the last decade: increasing
numbers of farmers are sowing cotton, whilst
the production and the yield have increased
significantly. At least some of this growth
is due to the introduction of biotech cotton.
This cotton carries genes from the bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis, hence the name Bt
cotton. These genes produce proteins that
protect the plant against bollworms, an
infamous pest in cotton. Bt cotton was
officially first introduced in India during the
2002 – 2003 growing season.