RANGPUR Dec 7 (UNB): Cotton farming in the region holds out a shining prospect as the farmers are showing increasing trend towards it for the higher income from the crop.
Interest in cultivation of the crop is growing among the farmers as its price has increased remarkably in the international market.
Encouraged by the price higher than ever in the international market, the cultivators are bringing more areas of land under cotton farming.
Besides, the Cotton Development Board is motivating the farmers to use their fallow lands in cotton cultivation; and thus to increase its production in the region, official sources said.
Chief scientific officer of Rangpur Cotton Development Board Zillur Rahman said aiming to boost production of cotton in Rangpur division, its cultivation has been increased substantially in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts in the last several years.
A total of 1,603 hectares of land, including 1,343 under high- yielding variety and 260 under hybrid variety, were brought under cotton farming in 16 cotton production units of Cotton Development Board in Rangpur division in the 2012-2013 season, added the scientific officer.
About 3,678 tonnes of cotton seeds and 7,005 bales of cotton fibre were produced then, he said further. In the 2013-14 season, 4,170 tonnes of cotton seeds and 8,340 bales of cotton fibre were produced from 1,813 hectares of land, including 1,441 hectares under high-yielding variety and 372 hectares under hybrid variety, in the Rangpur zone.
Most of the growers in the district are cultivating the hybrid variety on their lands following rise in its production.
Nawsher Ali Khan, a cotton grower of Ghonirampur village in Taraganj upazila, said he has brought 65 decimals of land under cotton cultivation by spending Tk25,000 this season.
He is expecting to collect 30 maunds of cotton seeds while he got 25 maunds from the same quantity of land last year.
Another grower Nawab Ali at the same village said he has cultivated cotton on one acre of land by spending Tk30,000 with an output target of 40 maunds of cotton seeds this year.
He also said that the cotton growers need not to worry about its price and sale like other crops as the price of cotton is same in all the districts across the country.
Besides, the growers can sell their produce through the Cotton Development Board, he said.
At present, cotton is being sold at Tk 2,500 per maund in Rangpur region.
The chief scientific officer said 0.1 million to one and a half lakh bales of fibre cotton are being produced in the country against the demand of about 4.2 million bales per year.
Of the total, 70 per cent is produced in Chuadanga, Kushtia and Jhenidah districts. Cultivation of cotton is being increased every year in the Rangpur region, he added. He also claimed that the growers can earn double from cotton farming than paddy on the same land.
The farmers are being motivated to bring more lands under cotton cultivation in the division, he said.
For this purpose, the growers are provided with loan, seeds and other inputs to boost production and arrangements are also made to help easy sale of their produces. The government has taken a plan to extract edible oil and oil cake from cotton seeds. A factory, meanwhile, has been set up under private sector in Kushtia district, which now waits opening, he added.
