ChangingCottonLandscapeNeilForrester

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2) Ensure all private seed sector companies have open access to any public germplasm releases, on the same commercial royalty terms. Public seed companies, such as the Punjab Seed Corporation, should be treated no differently. 3) Ensure that public sector and private sector variety approvals are treated equally and that the approval process is not influenced by the parties with vested interests. India took a different path to professionalise its cottonseed industry. It made a conscious effort about 30-40 years ago to develop hybrid cotton which took a while to develop but which now accounts for about 70% of the Indian cottonseed market. Heterosis or hybrid vigour in cotton so far has been much less than that experienced in other crops such as corn, sorghum and sunflowers (say around 5% at most versus 20% or so for these other crops), so hybrid cotton was adopted more for higher quality seed (better germination and genetic purity) than for hybrid vigour. The adoption of hybrid cotton in India then allowed a private seed sector to develop as growers had to now buy fresh seed each year (de facto IP protection if you like). The growers were also happy as they were now being supplied with genetically pure, high quality planting seed with good germination and seedling vigour. The growers were prepared to pay more for the more expensive hybrid cotton seed as it delivered growers a greater economic benefit and seed companies were prepared to invest in plant breeding and seed processing improvements as they were assured of a return on their investments. So the Indian cottonseed industry has flourished and India has been able to enjoy the benefits of a professional cottonseed industry with ready access to the full range of currently available transgenic technologies for cotton and no doubt continuing access to the pipeline of future transgenic technologies in cotton. So what about the possibility of developing a hybrid cotton industry in Pakistan? Hybrid cotton production is a very labour intensive process with most commercial production requiring hand emasculation in the afternoon and hand pollination the following morning. Hand emasculation is the most demanding task and does require a level of dexterity and children are preferred for this task. So this has led to the problem of the use of child labour in hybrid cotton production systems in India and China. While this may be considered less of a problem for local seed companies, it is a very significant issue for multinational seed companies who are at an economic disadvantage as they do not support this practice. This would also be a problem for Pakistan, in addition to the problem of having no experience base in the practice of hybrid cottonseed production. In comparison, India has 30-40 years of experience, and a specialized hybrid cottonseed industry is already in place with dedicated hybrid cottonseed producing districts and villages with professional “organizers”. 18
There are two other conventional hybrid production systems used but these do have their own set of problems and are not that widely used. These are: 1) Genetic Male Sterility is used but you have to rogue out the 50% fertile plants in the seed production fields and the yield drag from heat stress is around 3-5%. It is a complex two gene recessive system and requires a longer backcrossing programme; and 2) Cytoplasmic Male Sterility is rarely used because of the unacceptable 8-10% yield loss due to heat sensitivity. In addition to the lack of any history of hybrid cottonseed production infrastructure and experience in Pakistan, there are a number of other major technical and logistical difficulties. These are discussed below briefly. Technical problems 1) Lack of suitable seed production areas – it is generally too hot in the central Pakistan cotton belt for successful hybrid cottonseed production. Seed production will either have to be in the milder northern Punjab or southern Sindh to avoid excessive heat during the seed production period. However, in the more industrialized north there will be competition for labour and in the south, it may be too wet for reliable production of high quality seed. 2) Lack of compensatory ability in low planting density hybrids – because of the higher cost of hybrid seed, it is planted at a much lower planting rate than that used for varieties. Hybrid cotton is planted at around 1 kg per acre in the Indian Punjab and varieties are planted at around 5-8 kg per acre in Pakistan. So debilitating problems like CLCV and jassids (which severely affect the growth and productivity of infected/infested plants), become much more important problems as the same percentage infection at low planting rates will cause significantly more production losses because of the reduced compensatory ability. For example in the two photos below, we can clearly see the reduced biomass production capability in the substantial bare areas surrounding the badly affected plants. Hybrid cottonseed production in China 19
Page 1: Changing the Cotton Landscape in Pa
Page 5: Preface The importance of improving
Page 8 and 9: Acronyms AARI Ayub Agricultural Res
Page 10 and 11: Millions of Bales (170 kgs) Yield (
Page 12 and 13: Millions of bales (170 kgs) 35.0 30
Page 14 and 15: 4.1b/year in extra lint, oil and me
Page 16 and 17: CLCV susceptible variety in the Ind
Page 18 and 19: (Feb/March) of part of their cotton
Page 20 and 21: The following table presents data o
Page 22 and 23: 96.1%, respectively). High levels o
Page 24 and 25: for transgenic seed production othe
Page 28 and 29: Logistical problems It will be very
Page 30 and 31: the introduction of Roundup Ready F
Page 32 and 33: eview and will not be discussed fur
Page 34 and 35: Following is a list of insect toler
Page 36 and 37: The key factors affecting the devel
Page 38 and 39: • Disease tolerance, especially F
Page 40 and 41: whatever natural refuges are availa
Page 42 and 43: The models above clearly indicate t
Page 44 and 45: 7. Summary of Recommendations 1) En
Page 46 and 47: case, we need to carefully examine
Page 48 and 49: Stakeholders Engaged for this Study

ChangingCottonLandscapeNeilForrester

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