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India set to overtake U.S. in cotton farming
By agencies
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Wednesday, 20 April 2005, 19:30 IST
WASHINGTON: A recent U.S. agriculture department report said that India could surpass U.S. to become the worldÂ’s second leading cotton producer after China if IndiaÂ’s cotton yield improvement remain on upward swing.
In a special report on IndiaÂ’s cotton production, the USDA examined how cotton crop yields have steadily increased in India largely due to the adoption of genetically modified (GM) cotton.
While the U.S. will produce approximately 23.1 million bales in 04-05, India will be slightly behind with 18 million bales, it said.
India’s forecast production of 18 million bales will surpass the U.S’ 10-year average production of 17.9m bales, it said. “If India yields continue to improve at the same rate as it has in the last two years, using average area, India cotton production could surpass the U.S. as the second-largest cotton producer in the world behind China,” it said.
Better yields have been driven by Indian farmersÂ’ growing use of Bt cotton, which reduces losses to bollworm infestations.