The government has drawn up a plan to raise cotton production to 19 lakh bales by 2050 to meet the domestic demand of the country’s textile industry. At present local production meets only 18 to 20 percent of the country’s annual demand of 16 lakh bales.
Md Rezaul Amin, executive director of the Cotton Development Board (CDB), told the state news agency BSS: “We have taken short, medium and long-term plans to increase cotton production in more than 50 districts of the country.”
Under the plan, the CDB has set targets of producing five lakh bales of lint cotton by 2030, 10 lakh bales by 2040 and 19 lakh bales by 2050 by expanding the land under cotton to two lakh hectares.
Cotton farming will be expanded in Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Barishal, Bhola, Barguna, Chattogram, Feni, Cox’s Bazar and Nilphamari districts.
Cotton of both high-yielding and hill varieties is now grown in 39 districts and 132 upazilas. High-yielding cotton is grown on 69 percent of that land and hill cotton on 31 percent. About 2 lakh 24 thousand bales of lint cotton a year are produced from about 48,000 hectares.
The programme to raise production will bring in high char lands, the Barind region, suitable hill land, relatively less fertile and less productive land, saline and drought-prone areas and government khas land, and will expand intercropping of cotton with orchards, vegetables, pulses and spices.
At a meeting between the prime minister and the agriculture ministry on 13 September, the CDB was told to review every possibility for cotton production in the country and submit a detailed plan.
At the first meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the agriculture ministry on 16 September, the CDB was also urged to take quick and effective steps to raise local cotton production and cut the large import bill.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report