The area planted to biotech cotton in 2018 reached 24.9 million hectares, a 3% increase from 24.1 million hectares in 2017. The increase was mainly due to the improved global market value and high adoption rate of stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant (IR/HT) cotton in 2018.

Biotech cotton was planted in 15 countries in 2018, led by India (11.6 million hectares), USA (5.06 million hectares), China (2.93 million hectares), Pakistan (2.8 million hectares), and Brazil (1 million hectares). Another 10 countries grew biotech cotton, including Argentina, Myanmar, Australia, Sudan, Mexico, South Africa, Paraguay, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the Kingdom of eSwatini.

The increase in income benefits for farmers growing biotech cotton from 1996 to 2016 was US$52 billion and US$3.4 billion for 2015 alone.

Read full, original article: Annual Biotech crop update: Cotton