Cotton is white Gold of Pakistan. Pakistan enjoying the sole position in the cotton World 4th biggest producer of Cotton after China India and USA. Cotton is considering as a country cash crop and has a vital role in an uplift of country economy. Thought cultivated for fiber its kernel seed oil is also used for edible vegetable oil and 6th largest importer of Raw cotton 3rd largest producer of yarn 2nd largest exporter, the 7 largest producers of cloth and 3rd largest exporter (ICAS, USA). 1.3 million Farmer out of total 5 million farmers cultivates cotton around 7.86 million acres in 2015–2016 by covering 15 % of the cultivated area of the country. Cotton and cotton related product put in 10 % to GDP and 55% To foreign exchange earnings of the country (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2015-16).Punjab and Sindh are the foremost provinces in the production of cotton Punjab are more crucial it shares 79% of total Cotton( Nazli,2010).
Bt Cotton: Bt cotton carries a geneCry1Ac from Bacillus thurngensis that encodes for endotoxin Cry protein that makes plant resistance against the insect(pink boll worm). 1st Bt cotton variety commercialized by the Agriculture Biotechnology leading company Monsanto in 1996 the transformation event MON531 incorporated in the cotton known as Bollgard. Currently, about 12.1 million farmers are growing GMO cotton most of them in China and India (James,2008). Three generation of GM Cotton has been commercialized 1st in 1996 company Monsanto and 2nd generation contain a Cry2AB in addition to Cry1AC and stacked 2nd version is Round-up Ready Flex(RR FLEX)which carry a herbicides resistance gene in addition to Cry1ac and Cry2AB. Bollgard3 contain a third protein with the addition of Bollgard 2 Vip3A each protein has a different mode of action increase the longevity and kill larvae by the different way.
In Pakistan there is various Research station and institute PCCC, CCRI, AARI, NARC, NIBGE, NGAB, NIAB, CEMB, CAMB, and technology is improving but Pakistan is still under the crises of Cotton white Gold turn into Dust in the year 2015-16 cotton catastrophic 28% in Pakistan agriculture economy. Government missed the target of 5.5% with a growth of4.7% during the financial year 2015-16 which reduced economic growth by 0.5%.There are several reason that makes the cotton slump in the world they are using the latest technology 3rd Generation of Bt cotton seed but in Pakistan we are still reliant on 1st generation of Bt cotton and in Pakistan Bt cotton grow informal way still 2010 from 2002 the formally Bt cotton introduced in 2010 by government of Pakistan A study conducted by assessment of Bt cotton Cry1Ac(1st generation) showed that 52 seed varieties were collected from various seed companies and dealers Analysis test show that only 0.86 of the genotype were positive for the MON531 event (Monsanto company event) and 0.14 were negative for any transgene and 0.02 genotype have the reported The optimum level of Bt toxin. There are a lot of facts that affect the cotton production and make cotton slump and a lot of cotton farmers are very poor and small farmers a study showed that 17% of the farmer did not know is it Bt Cotton or not.33% are not ensured about the presence of the gene. Even by using Bt cotton Sadashivappa&Qaim (2009) portrayed that Bt farmers were able to reduce pesticides application by 40% while simultaneously they were also able to get yield advantages of 30-40%.but the Bt cotton is not Bt Cotton the reason of the failure of Bt cotton is the technology we are still using the MONSANTO gene in our Cotton genome we are failing in the stabilization and getting of actual level of toxin. In 2015-16, cotton was cultivated above six million hectares in Punjab, but due to destruction of the crop plagued by pest attack, the country suffered a loss of approximately 45 percent in terms of crop yield while the Punjab farmers had to suffer PKR 170 billion loss in crop production,’’ says Farooq Bajwa” there is no subsidy for Bt cotton farmer. Government is supposed to be serious in the Adaptation of 2nd generation and roundup ready flux generation of Bt cotton. Get rid of all seed varieties that failed to stand against the pest and did not show on past the optimum level of Bt Toxin. The government should commence the policies in cotton growing area friendly for the cotton farmer because a farmer is disheartened last year so a lot of farmers are switched to sugarcane and other crops. The breakdown of cottonseed technology is a very somber problem since it is directly associated with the country’s economy there are more than 700 seed companies in Pakistan so seed adulteration is key problem in Pakistan So Government of Punjab negotiated with MNC Monsanto the acquisition of GM technology from Monsanto The government is very well alert of all these issues related to the cotton crop and recently it has approved a sum of PKR 5 billion for U.S. firm Monsanto for development of new seeds. Pakistan cotton production was forecasted to be7.7 M bales, a 10% boost from the last year. Yield recovery is estimated by the USDA at 699kg/ha 28% up from the last year crop. Area of harvested will be dropped by 14% to 2.4 million ha so the new report shows that this year A 5.30 % boost has been witnessed over the preceding period last year when production stood at 10.147m bales. By using latest Technology and improving the agronomic practices and improving the knowledge of farmer towards the latest Technology by trim downing seed Adulteration we can uplift our Cotton crop from the cotton slump and turn it into white Gold.