Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development Vol. 12(2), 157-162, July-December. 2017 Attitude of Farmers towards Bt Cotton Production Technology Sumit Yadav1*, A.K. Godara2 and M.S. Nain3 'Research Scholar, 2Professor, Department of Extension Education, CCS I1AU, Hisar 'Senior Scientist, Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR-Indiun Agricultural Research Institute, New Dclhi-110012 ABSTRACT Since the introduction and commercialization of Bt cotton (Bacillus tburinyens/s) in India, most of the area for cotton production has been occupied by the Bt cotton. 1 lowever, despite its popularity, some farmers are stil! very much skeptical about the advantages of planting Bt and are wary of its possible effects on conventional cotton, the environment and the human health being genetically modified, as such, would not cultivate it. The present study was conducted to investigate the attitude of farmers towards Bt cotton production technology regarding environment aspect, economic, social and technological aspect of Bt cotton production technology in cotton growing districts of Haryana. According to the weighted mean scores attitude of the respondents towards all four aspects of sustainabikty (environment, economic, social and technological) of Bt cotton production technology was positive and favourable. Keywords: Bt cotton, Economical, Environmental and attitude, Social INTRODUCTION Cotton accounts for an area of 610 thousand ha in Han-ana with total production of 24,000 thousand bales and 664.50 kg/ha lint yield (Anonymous, 2014). It is attacked by several insect pests reducing the crop yield to a greater extent. The insect pests that attack cotton crop may be classified into sap sucking insects (aphicls, jassids and white fly) or chewing insects (bollworms, leaf eating caterpillars etc.). Of the total pesticides used in Indian Agriculture, about 45 per cent is used on cotton crop alone. To reduce pesticide usage in cotton, several strategies like use of genetic resistance to insect pests, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM) etc. are being advocated. In recent times, Rt cotton technology is found to be one ot the best strategies to manage bollworms, the most important pest of cotton. In India, biotechnology made its long-awaited entry into commercial agricultural in March, 2002 with the approval of three (MECH-12, MKC11-162 and MECH- 184) Bt cotton hybrids for commercial cultivation. The Genetic Kngineering Approval committee (GEAC), Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India granted the approval, at its 32nd meeting held in New Delhi. The transgenic hybrids were developed by MAIIYCO (Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company Limited) in collaboration with Monsanto. Later five more events were undertaken namely: MON 15985, Kvent-1, GFM Kvent, Cry \c Event and Cry 1 Ac Event 9124. Bt-cotton was introduced in India in 2002 for commercial production in Southern states followed by Northern states (Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan) in 2005. Presently, 1340 Bt cotton hybrids have been released and recommended for cultivation in India (Bharud, 2014), which has created a confusing situation for the farmers for choosing the appropriate hybrid. So, identification of suitable Bt cotton hybrid for a particular region on the basis of their performance and the thorough knowledge of hybrid characteristics is essential. An attitude affects an individual's behaviors by filtering information and shaping the individual's perception of the world (P'a/io, 1986), whereas the strength in the attitude amplifies or neutralizes the effect of the attitude on behaviors (Krosnick and Petty, 1995). Eishbein and Axjen's (1975) proposed theory of (""Corresponding author) email id: *sumit33yadav@gmail.com, -nkgotlara@hau.emet.in, 'msnain@gmaii.coir.