Environmental Health and Socio-Economic Benefits of Bt-Cotton Farming A study in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

Agriculture is one of the most ancient and significant sectors of India, the only means of living for almost two-third of the employed class in India. It has occupied almost 43 percent of India's geographical area. India is one of the major cotton producing countries, ranking 3rd after USA and China. Cotton accounts per 30 percent of agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in India and has the largest cotton area of 20 million acres. It provides livelihood to more than 60 million people in India. As agriculture is closely associated with the environment, it has a major impact on land use, soil, water biodiversity and the landscape and the intensive agriculture has disrupted ecological balance. Green revolution in India was ushered with the increased use of pesticide and increased input of agricultural fertilizers and using better farm techniques in spite of increase in food production, many of agriculture farmers of India are not aware of the environmental hazards occurred due to the usage of pesticides. The farmers of India are using one-third of pesticides that are consumed in third world countries.