The second biggest apparel exporter globally, Bangladesh is largely dependent on overseas destinations for its cotton requirements. However, the existing scenario is set to change after Bangladesh Government has decided to popularise the domestic production of the white fibre.
As a part of this move, the Cotton Development Board (CDB) has reportedly started providing Taka 15,000 per head to cotton farmers from a fund of Taka 5 crore to encourage more people to take to cotton farming.
“We have a target to expand the cotton cultivation area to 55,000 hectares from 43,500 hectares now in the next five years. We will also use hybrid seeds to double the production,” reportedly stated Deputy Director of CDB Md. Akhtaruzzaman, adding, “Currently, yield per hectare stands at 1.5 tonnes and it would go up to 3-3.5 tonnes if hybrid seeds are used.”
With the aim to produce 2.5 lakh bales of cotton by 2021, which would meet nearly 5-7 per cent of the country’s cotton requirement, CBD is now reportedly scouting for land for cotton farming in new places along with existing areas of Jessore, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Gazipur, and Mymensingh.
It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh is one of the biggest importers of cotton globally. The domestic cotton production of the country reportedly fulfills merely 4 per cent of the raw cotton demand, which has led the Cotton Development Board (CBD) under the Ministry of Agriculture to work towards reducing this gap through various policies, research, and practice driven measures.