CHUADANGA, Feb 6: Farmers of the district are expecting bumper cotton production this year due to favourable weather, timely supply of agro-inputs and necessary technical help from the local cotton development office.
Chuadanga Cotton Development Board office sources said this year's cultivation target of cotton was 2,585 hectares of land with the production target of 6,462 tonnes of cotton. Of those, 910 ha of land were cultivated in Chuadanga Sadar, 605 ha in Alamdanga, 560 ha in Damurhuda and 510 ha in Jibonnagar Upazila.
The Cotton Development Board office provided training to the farmers and advised them for growing more cotton using organic fertilisers through 17 unit offices, said officials.
The farmers of the district cultivated hybrid Rupali-1, Don-3, Ufshi-12, and CB-14 varieties cotton on their lands.
Farmer Mozammel Haque of Belgachhi Village under Sadar Upazila said, "I cultivated Rupali-1 and CB-14 varieties of cotton on five-bigha land spending Tk 60,000 this season. I am expecting to earn Tk 55,000 to 60,000 as profit from the produce."
Farmer Humayun Kabir of the same village said he cultivated cotton on 4.5-bigha land and is expecting a bumper output of the crop.
The local farmers urged the authorities to monitor the cotton market properly during harvesting as a section of dishonest traders may make syndicate to control the local market, depriving the famers of fair price.
Chuadanga Regional Cotton Development Officer Dr. Abdus Salam said, "The local farmers are being interested in cotton cultivating as they got handsome profit last year. Its cultivation will increase if the growers get fair price. It may turn into a cash crop in future."
