Hefty gain from cotton cultivation

Farmers selling cotton at Betbenia market in Gangni upazila.PHOTO : Amamur Rahman

The crop earned them good profit this year.

"I earned a profit of about Tk 7,000 by cultivating cotton on one bigha of land", farmer Rabiul Islam told this correspondent at Betbenia bazaar in Gangni upazila recently.

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The yield was also good this year, he said. The production cost per bigha is about Tk 2,000. Five to eight maunds are produced, which is sold at around Tk 13,00 per maund, he said.

"Flood partially damaged the field but the average yield was good this year," said Abdul Hanef of Dharmadah in Daulatpur upazila.

This correspondent also visited some areas in Kushtia and Meherpur and talked to farmers.

They said they cultivated cotton this year as a cash crop because of its good demand and quality. The cropping time is also short, about four months, they said.

According to sources at the Kushtia zonal office of Bangladesh Cotton Development Board (BCDB), 9,000 hectares of land were brought under cotton cultivation in the last season (September-December) with a production target of 18,000 bales. The zone includes Kushtia, Meherpur, Rajbari and Faridpur.

They said cotton plants on about 2,000 hectares were damaged by floods but this was compensated by good yield.

They said farmers can raise other crops along with cotton.

Cotton cultivation is becoming popular.

They said the cotton grown in Bangladesh is very good in quality and can be compared with the crops grown in traditional cotton-growing countries. High lands are most suited for this crop.

The BCDB officials said, to encourage farmers, they are running 21 'farmers school fields' (FCF) an 'attended pest management programme (APMP) to train them in cotton farming and pest control.

But lack of loan is a problem for farmers, they said.