Cotton-wheat production system in South Asia: a success story
Cotton-wheat is a long established crop production system of north-western plains of India and Pakistan, and it occupies an important place in the agricultural economy of both these countries. While cotton is a cash crop, wheat provides the necessary food security. Accordingly, this crop rotation has brought rich dividends to the farmers. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in both production and productivity of these crops in the Cotton-Wheat Production System (CWPS). It is currently the next prominent cropping system after rice-wheat in both countries. The Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), as its on-going activity, periodically brings out some agricultural case studies carried out by national programs with achievable results impacting agricultural growth and development in order to disseminate such information for the use of NARS in the Asia-Pacific region. APAARI has so far published over 30 success stories covering diverse topics. These included the rice-wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and on production trends in wheat and cotton in India and Pakistan. In this context, the present success story on