Bangladesh imported 7.1 million bales of cotton in the 2019-20 financial year at a cost of around Tk 300 billion (30,000 crore).
The Cotton Development Board (CDB), under the Ministry of Agriculture, has set a target of producing 2.0 million bales of cotton in the country by 2041.
The CDB Executive Director Md Farid Uddin presented this statistics at an international webinar, organised by the CDB on the occasion of World Cotton Day 2020 on Thursday (October 8) night.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque attended the function as the chief guest.
The CDB Executive Director also said the goal can be achieved by cultivating cotton in only 0.2 million hectares of land, so the average production per hectare should be increased to 10 bales.
The average production per hectare in Bangladesh in the last fiscal year 2019-20 was 6.15 bales while the average production per hectare in the world's top cotton producing countries is above 10 bales, he stated.
Mr Uddin also presented the data that cotton was cultivated in 44,000 hectares of land in Bangladesh in FY 2019-20 fiscal and the production was over 0.17 million bales.
Cotton production in the country is increasing due to the recent innovation and cultivation of hybrid improved varieties of cotton by the CDB, Mr Farid insists.
At the function, Mr Abdur Razzaque said the government is putting importance on cotton production.
The government is strengthening the CDB in all respects. Recently, construction work of CDB’s own building has started, the minister pointed out.
The CDB is setting up physical infrastructure, equipment, laboratories and recruiting skilled manpower. So that the production of cotton can be accelerated and the target can be achieved by inventing new varieties suitable for the climate and climate of Bangladesh, he added.
The CDB was established under the Ministry of Agriculture in 1972 to promote cotton production in the country.
The CDB started functioning in 1974-75 and started growing American Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) on experimental basis. Extensive program of Upland Cotton production was taken up in 1976-77 with the introduction of new variety from the USA. The responsibility of cotton research was transferred from Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) to Cotton Development Board (CDB) in 1991.
sajibur@gmail.com