Attention has been paid in the West Indies to seed selection, by the officers of the imperial Department of Agriculture, with the object of retaining for West Indian Sea Island cotton its place as the most valuable cotton on the British market.
The cultivation of cotton on a commercial scale is quite new in Nyasaland, and although general conditions of soil and climate appear favourable the question of transport is serious and labour is not abundant.
It is evident that the buying of cotton on the principles suggested would be calculated to cause great unsteadiness of prices, especially as cotton is not continuously forthcoming, but is produced periodically in harvests.
In 1866-1867 the tide of prosperity was interrupted by a financial crisis, due to the fall in the price of cotton on the termination of the American war.
In 2004, farmers in the state of Andhra Pradesh grew Bt cotton on 10% of the cotton acreage.