For the last five-year, cotton is being cultivated commercially in the fields of Barind region of Rajshahi division.
It is learnt, with the assistance from the officials of Cotton Development Board and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), farmers of Godagari upazila of Rajshahi cultivated cotton for the first time in 2014.
Cotton plants have a drought resistant quality and grow well in water scarce, semi-rugged Barind tract of Rajshahi district.
According to sources, Cotton is the collective name given to four species of plants on the genus Gossypium- Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium herbaceum which are perennial shrubs in the family Malvaceae grown for the fluffy fibre.
Nearly 350 hectares of land were brought under cotton farming in Godagari in 2014 and the amount of land has been increasing year by year. The Cotton Development Board in Rajshahi was assisting financially the cotton farmers of Barind upazilas.
According to CDB, Rajshahi, farmers are being encouraged to cultivate cotton in various plots of drought prone, semi-rugged Barind area, CDB took a number of projects at Paharpur, Amtola, Joitabot Tola, Basantapur and Udpur villages. Officials of CDB hoped, more Barind land will be brought under cotton cultivation during the coming years.
Cotton farmer Abdul Quddus (50) informed, there having no way to irrigate his land through deep tube wells, he could not cultivate more than one crop a year. Since cotton farming requires a little or no irrigation, he was using his land to cultivate cotton this year. He along with his brother has cultivated cotton on nine bighas of land this year, informed Quddus.
Rajshahi district cotton development Office sources informed, farmers of Barind tract are being assisted with money, seed and fertiliser to cultivate cotton and officials of CDB were inspecting the cotton fields regularly.
They further informed, CDB was bearing all expenditure of cultivation of some 200 bighas of land. The farmers will have to sell all their produced cotton to CDB when the money given to the farmer by CDB will be deducted.
Cotton Development Officials of Rajshahi further informed, the price of cotton has not been fixed this year. As a result, the farmers will be paid taka 2,525 for one mound of cotton as the prevailing rate.
The sources further mentioned, the cotton industry of the country is mainly dependent on imported cotton from India, Pakistan, USA and Sudan. A mass cultivation of cotton in the Barind tract will decrease import of cotton as well as make the semi-arid land of the region usable.
