MULTAN, July 14: The cultivation of BT cotton, which has more output potential and requires far less pesticide sprays, has not yet been allowed by the government. This was said by Central Cotton Research Institute director Muhammad Arshad here on Saturday while talking to this agency.

He said although some growers had been sowing different BT cotton seeds, none of them were approved by the government.

He said two institutes of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission — National Institute of Bio-technology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad and Centre of Excellence for Molecular Biology (CEMB), Lahore — had evolved the BT cotton varieties, IRFH-901 and CIM-482, respectively.

“Their cultivation on commercial scale however, has not been allowed by the government as research continues,” he said.

A cotton grower, Mian Mushtaq Ahmed, has urged the government to introduce the domestic version of BT seed which conforms to climatic and environmental conditions of the country so that the production of the silver fibre could be considerably increased.

Another farmer Mian Mahtab said India was reportedly harvesting 35-40 maund per acre yield, so Pakistan too should be able to achieve that to meet the growing needs of raw cotton.

However, progressive farmers like Maqbool Khichi and Mumtaz Manais, both winners of presidential award `Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ for being exemplary cotton growers, have opposed the cultivation of BT cotton.

They said farmers should wait for the locally-developed BT cotton seed which would suit the environment and would not create any problems in future. — APP