Insect-resistant cotton to halve pesticides expenditure
19 Apr '06
1 min read
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIGBE), Faisalabad, has been successful in developing an insect-resistant cotton variety.
This variety of cotton will help reduce national import bill of pesticides worth Rs15 billion to almost half.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) informed that NIGBE put up a proposal to this effect to National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for approval of this cottonseed variety.
NIGBE is an agricultural research organ of PAEC which has been working on genetic engineering of cotton under instructions of Federal Government and the advice of Punjab Government.
The insect-resistant cotton variety has been modified from approved commercial variety, IR-FH-901.
PAEC informs that systematic cultivation of IR varieties will reduce pesticides import bill of Rs 15 billion to half.
It will help to clean the environment and minimal damage to health of farmers, farm labourers and livestock.
The project was funded by Agriculture Ministry Punjab, UN bodies like FAO, CFC and International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), USA.
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