Meanwhile, experts say that the pest attacks coupled with the dry spell will result in a fall in production of cotton even though the crop has been grown in a larger area than last time.

There was a record production of 26.5 lakh bales of cotton in Punjab in 1991-92 before the crop was attacked by American bollworm the following year. The production started deteriorating drastically and fell to just 4.5 lakh bales in 1998-99. After the introduction of Bt cotton in the state around three years ago, things started to improve.

In fact, the launch of this variety had a significant political fallout because it cost the Shiromani Akali Dal dearly in the elections. It was voted out and the Congress elected because it was considered to have “helped the farmers come out of the cotton crisis” that had been haunting them since 1992, when a major attack of American bollworm was first reported.