Speakers at a daylong workshop have urged the farmers and others concerned to expand cotton farming in the vast Barind tract for boosting up its production to meet up the country’s demand.
They viewed prospect of boosting cotton production in the Barind region is bright as its topography and climatic condition suitable for the cash crop.
For the sake of best uses of the prospective scenario, the farmers should come forward towards the farming so that they can gain more money from the cultivation side by side with meeting up the national demand.Cotton Development Board (CDB) under its ‘Extensive Cotton Cultivation Programme’ organized the workshop titled “Extension of Cotton Farming in Barind Tract” held at the conference hall of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) in Rajshahi metropolis on Saturday.Secretary to the Agriculture Ministry Dr SM Nazmul Islam addressed the opening session as chief guest with CDB Executive Director Abdul Latif in the chair.Director General of Department of Agriculture Extension Abu Hanif Mian, BMDA Executive Director Engineer Ahsan Zakir and Deputy Commissioner of Rajshahi Mejbah Uddin Chowdhury spoke as special guests.n his welcome speech, CDB Project Director Dr Gazi Golam Mourtoza observed that the cotton production could be enhanced to a greater extent if necessary measures were adopted and due importance was given to the sector. “Government attention is very much needed to proper exposure of the sector’s potentialities,” he said. Considering the demand of the country’s textile industries, the local cotton growers can meet only a meager 3-5 per cent of the annual demand and the rest is met through import.He said there is an enormous prospect of boosting cotton production after the best uses of existing natural resources. Cotton Development Board has adopted a five-year project titled “Extensive Cotton Cultivation” considering importance of the sector and its further development.On successful implementation of the project, cotton production will be enhanced to around 8 to 10 lakh bales from the existing hardly one
lakh bales annually in the country that will save foreign currency of around Taka 5 to 6 thousand crore per year.Besides, better quality edible oil and oil cake are manufactured from cotton seeds and cotton stalk is one of the best domestic fuels.As oil cake is highly enriched with protein and fat many people use it in cow fattening farm and fish farming pond for better outputs. Another byproduct of the cotton refining process is crud oil that used
in soap and glycerin factory as raw material, he added.In his keynote presentation, Mostofa Kamal, Zonal Head of CDB, said acreage of the crop is gradually increasing in the region comprising Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore and partly in Pabna for the last couple of years.Farmers have started replacing the paddy and sugarcane cultivation lands with cotton farming because it requires less investment and less labour. Cotton farming is helpful towards enriching organic matter of the soil.Kamal told the workshop that a total of 1,578 hectares of land has been brought under cotton cultivation in the region this year with an output target of around 10,000 bales. In last 2012-13 fiscal year, 6,736 bales were harvested from 1408 hectares of arable land.
‘We help the cotton farmers in procuring seeds, making land, nurturing of crop. If the weather is favourable a bumper production will be achieved in the current season’.Around 150 farmers, agriculturists, researchers and other officials and staffs concerned attended the workshop discussing ways and means of how to expand the cotton cultivation in the barind area comprising 25 upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts. -BSS,
Gaibandha
