ISLAMABAD -- Cotton alone contributes nearly 65 percent of the foreign exchange earnings of Pakistan and the Bt cotton varieties (IR 3701 and IR 1524) developed by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s (PAEC) Biotech Centre, NIBGE hopefully will help in achieving cotton vision 2015 of government.

The object is to boost production to 20 million bales by 2015, an official of PAEC said. Besides Bt cotton technology is expected to reduce production (input) cost as well as reduction in number of sprays of dangerous and toxic chemicals. He said the second approved variety IR-1524 is tolerant to water stress, a feature emerging as a national threat to agriculture productivity. It has also shown higher tolerance to cotton leaf virus disease, he added. It is expected that these two approved cotton varieties will soon be cultivated in large cotton areas of Punjab and Sindh, he elaborated.