Government will not promote Bt Cotton

CHENNAI: Accepting the representations made by farmers and members of the State Assembly, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that the State government would not promote Bt Cotton as promised in the revised budget for the year 2011-12.Making a suo motu statement in the State Assembly, the Chief Minister said after the Central government approved cultivation of Bt Cotton in 2002 through the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, farmers in many States have been cultivating it. Farmers in Tamil Nadu have also been cultivating Bt Cotton since it was yielding higher profit. As such, it was announced in the budget that the Bt Cotton would be promoted.However, since there is no guarantee that the Bt Cotton would benefit farmers in the long run and that it was a genetically modified variety, the government has decided not to promote it accepting the views of farmers as well as members of the State Assembly, Jayalalithaa said.