Pakistan: Bt Still Far Away

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Scott C. Lucas|18 June 2007

According to local sources contacted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS), the Pakistani government has prohibited the cultivation of Bt cotton while the locally developed variety is still under research.

The country’s cotton growers are ready to import Bt seed through legal means from India, but Pakistan’s Ministry Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) and the Ministry of Environment are not allowing the imports on technical grounds.

The approval of BT cotton in Pakistan depends on National Biosafety Committee working under the Ministry of Environment.