COTTON CROP TRACK : 2013-2014
USAGE OF AGRO-CHEMICALS

This is the seventh round of the Cotton Crop Track. The track was first conducted in 1996-97, long before Bt cotton was introduced in the country.

Today, Bt cotton accounts for over 90% of the area under cotton in the country. With this, Bollworm has ceased to be the central preoccupation of the cotton farmers.

However, there are still a host of pests, diseases and weeds of concern to the cotton farmers. And, cotton is still a dominant crop in the consumption of agro-chemicals in the country. Several new molecules of agro-chemicals have been launched during this period for the problems faced by the crop, and some of them have been adopted widely.

The questions now are related to changes in the concerns related to pests, diseases and weeds since the study was last conducted in 2010; changes in the applications of agro-chemicals and a host of related issues.