Indigenously developed hybrid Bt cotton seeds by next year
29 Jun '06
1 min read
US biotech firm Monsanto's Indian arm, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) had bagged government's permission to sell Bt cotton in the country, resulting in large scale illegal seeds finding their way into Indian farms.
This led Centre to approve conducting of trials and commercial production of hybrid Bt cotton.
India's first indigenously developed Bt cotton in the private sector is likely to be out by 2007-08 and would be priced 30-40 percent cheaper than its competitors.
Metahelix Life Sciences, Bangalore-based firm has developed the seeds.
These seeds need to go through various field trials before getting the final approval from Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a regulatory body of ministry of environment.
The new Bt cotton seeds have been developed to suite the Indian climatic conditions and are resistant to pests like caterpillars, cutworms and bollworms.
The 18 multi-location trials are carried out in eight states spread across three regions - south, north and central.
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