These have been finalised by the co-ordination committee of the All India Co-ordinated Cotton Improvement Project (AICCIP) of the ICAR - which identifies and passes the new varieties before the Central Variety Release Committee of the ICAR releases them in market as certified varieties.

The committee has also recommended that amendment be made in the existing Seeds Act to regulate selling of cotton seeds in the country. At present, only 10-15 per cent of the seeds used by the cotton growers in the country are ICAR certified. About 90 per cent of the seeds market is controlled by private companies, most of which do not undertake rigorous testing like the ICAR.

The co-ordination committee, which includes eminent cotton breeders from across the country, met for its annual re-orientation programme at the Central Instituteof Cotton Research here on February 2 and 3.

The AICCIP body has decided to make the passing norms stricter on all three important aspects of cotton - yield, disease, pest and stress resistance and fibre quality. The cotton will now have to fulfill the criteria of 20 per cent higher or significantly superior yield. The duration and number of trials have also been increased.

The testing for the pest and disease resistance and fibre quality will be initiated from the first year of testing itself. Any entry found to be highly yielding but susceptible to pests and diseases would be immediately rejected.

At present, all the entries under the AICCIP have to undergo rigorous multi-location testing for at least three years, before they are recommended to the releasing committee.

Speaking to The Indian Express here, the committee members said that the need to formulate the tougher norms has arisen due to the continuously decreasing profitability levels in cotton farming in the country for the last threeyears.

The problem is acute in northern cotton growing zone of the country, where production has decreased by an alarming 50 per cent in the last three years. This zone, which includes Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan contributed about 28-30 per cent to the national production of cotton, this year it is estimated to be only seven to eight per cent of the national production.

The main culprit for decreased production has been clearly the quirky climatic factor, add to this pest and disease infestation and water logging.

Again, profitability levels in cotton farming too has shown an alarming decrease with highly increased cost of production to the extent of 40-45 per cent. This is attributed to the money spent on insecticides, that in turn is due to the use of spurious and unrecommended seeds which are highly susceptible to pest and diseases.

This enters the socio-economic realm. The ever-worsening vicious circle of impoverished farming community buying cheap seeds and/or purchasing it from local privatedealers combined with the cost of insecticides.

Although few of the private seed companies have volunteered to participate in the trials undertaken by the AICCIP, most of the seeds that are released in the market are of dubious quality.