India’s Cotton Sector Needs Soil Health Reforms Alongside GM Seed Adoption, Says ICAC Scientist

Article argues that sustainable gains in cotton productivity depend on healthier soils, improved agronomic practices and climate-resilient farming, rather than relying solely on new GM seed approvals.

An article by Keshav Kranthi, titled India’s cotton farms need better soil, not just new GM seeds, examines India's cotton productivity trends and argues that the sector's future growth depends on improving soil health and farming practices alongside technological innovation.

The article states that a recent publication by Ayushi Gupta, Ritika Juneja and The ARTICLED in Cotton Fields attributes 88 per cent of India's cotton productivity increase between 2002 and 2013 to Bt cotton, particularly Bollgard-II, and argues that seed price controls delayed the introduction of new GM technologies, including BG-II RRFlex and Bollgard-III.

Kranthi argues that India's cotton productivity had already been increasing before the commercial introduction of Bt cotton in 2002 and that productivity reached 653 kg/ha by 2026, compared with 967 kg/ha projected by the authors. According to the article, the projection is not supported by available evidence.

The article also states that there is no credible evidence showing that BG-II RRFlex, Bollgard-III or Thryvon traits alone increase cotton yields. It argues that making GM trait approvals the primary driver of productivity diverts attention from agronomic, soil science, breeding and management practices that support sustainable yield improvement.

Comparing international performance, the article notes that India records cotton yields of 441 kg/ha, while China records 2,311 kg/ha and Australia records 2,316 kg/ha. It states that China's productivity comes from Thryvon technology combined with the same BG-II genes used in India, while the key difference lies in the availability of Bt varieties rather than Bt hybrids.

The article also highlights Turkey, which has not approved GM cotton, yet increased yields from 190 to 728 kg/ha between 1999 and 2026. During the same period, India's yields rose from 304 kg/ha to 458 kg/ha, peaking at 566 kg/ha in 2013-14 before declining. According to the article, Turkey's experience suggests that sustained productivity improvements depend on varietal development, agronomic investment and soil health rather than GM approvals.

Referring to data from the Ministry of Textiles, the article states that India's cotton productivity had already reached 521 kg/ha in 2006, while BG-II occupied only a negligible share of the cotton area because seed production and distribution had not yet reached scale.

The article attributes productivity gains between 2002 and 2018 to several factors, including effective bollworm control by Bt cotton, the increase in hybrid seed adoption from 38 per cent to 92 per cent, higher fertiliser use from 2.3-fold to 4-fold, expansion of irrigated area from 2.5 million to 4.4 million hectares, and greater farmer investment in crop management. It states that productivity gains slowed once these factors reached saturation.

According to the article, approximately 32 per cent of India's land is degraded and 25 per cent faces desertification. Soil organic carbon levels in Indian cropland average 0.3–0.6 per cent, below the globally accepted minimum of 1.5 per cent for productive soils, with levels below 0.25 per cent recorded across major cotton-growing regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The article states that improving soil health requires restoring soil organic carbon through regenerative agriculture, using biochar, compost systems, mixed cropping and farming systems designed around high-density plant spacing.

It also states that the Cotton Technology Mission should prioritise improvements in ginning output from 33 per cent to the global average of 39 per cent, raise harvesting efficiency from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, improve input-use efficiency, promote smaller mechanisation, encourage sustainable pink bollworm management and reduce input costs that disadvantage farmers.

The article concludes that India should continue to pursue new GM technologies while also focusing on climate-resilient varieties, healthier soils and improved agronomy, stating that these measures together should form the foundation of the Cotton Technology Mission.