COTTONING ON THE PAKISTAN'S WELSHING

Japan's decision to impose anti-dumping duties of upto 9.9 per cent on cotton yarn imports from Pakistan has enraged Pakistan's cotton-exporting lobby. The decision followed an investigation that revealed that Pakistani cotton was being sold in Japan at between 2.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent below the prices back home. The Pakistanis, who export around US $400 million worth of yarn to Japan annually, feel that the only option is to lodge a complaint with the Geneva-based World Trade Organization.

Pushing out pests

S Jayaraj of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's division at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Madras, has developed an eco-friendly, cost-effective and energy-saving method for managing cotton pests. The package is a blend of cultural, mechanical and biological methods and will cost between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 per ha, compared to the chemical control method that costs between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 per ha. Among other measures, the new method suggests deep ploughing and crop-rotation.

Creasefree cotton

Those who crave for the comfort of a cotton shirt but hate ironing out its kinkiness can now look forward to wrinkleless cotton. Agracetus Inc, a US biotech company, is about to test cotton from a plant genetically customised to produce a creasefree cotton fibre (Science, Vol 266, No 5192).

Cotton-eating monsters lay low the farmers

A SMALL, green caterpillar has proved to be the scourge of the 3 cotton-growing northwestern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Over the past 2 years, the seemingly innocuous American bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) has chewed its way into ripening bolls of cotton, destroying over half the cotton crop.

A blunder undone

THE Prime Minister, P V, Narasimha Rao, took a commendable step by revoking the patent granted to the US company, Agracetus, in 1991. Agracetus was awarded the patent for its transgenic cotton by the Indian Patent Office even though the Patent Act specifically forbids the Patenting of "investing process related to agriculture and horticulture". This patent could have not only harm India's prospects in the cotton trade, it could have also restricted its research. The question that arises is how the patent office could have allowed this to happen.

Revoked!

A RECENT move by the government of India should pacify sceptics of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and intellectual property rights (IPRs). In a remarkable step, it has begun the procedure for revoking a patent for a method of producing transgenic cotton granted in May 1991 to the US company Agracetus. A similar patent Agracetus had filed for in the US was later extended to cover all genetically engineered cotton (See box).

Colouring cotton

"Colour without dyes" is the aim of Indian plant breeders, who have been trying to develop cotton coloured by nature itself. "Our labs have the germplasm of many types of coloured cotton and scientists are trying to develop stable colours," said S S Narayanan of the Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur, at a seminar on hybrid research and development held in December in New Delhi.

Imported insects

THE INDIAN cotton crop, already attacked by several insects resistant to most insecticides, is now falling prey to a new insect -- the American serpentine leaf-miner. Scientists suspect this new threat, a native of southern USA, entered the country in 1990-91, probably from Kenya or Europe, along with chrysanthemum cuttings. The leaf-miner has also damaged castor, sunflower, mung bean, urad bean and other crops.

Optimistic target

PAKISTAN'S cotton crop will reach the target of 960 million kg despite the locust threat and reports of a virus attack, according to the country's central cotton committee. The final output, however, will depend on the extent to which Pakistan is able to mitigate the damage from the locust attack. Though at least 47,000 bands of locusts had been eliminated by the middle of September by spraying insecticides over a 12,000 sq km area, at least 50,000 sq km remained as a breeding ground for the pests.

Joint retaliation

THE recent locust attack has made India and Pakistan suspend their rivalry and launch a large-scale joint operation along their border between Punjab and Sindh. "This is a common problem. We'll have to face it together close to border areas," said Zahid Saeed, Pakistan's acting foreign secretary. The country's cotton and sugarcane crops are threatened by the tiny invaders.