Cotton growers of char land
A good number of farmers in char (landmass emerged from riverbed) areas of Jamalpur Sadar upazila are now happy with profitable cotton cultivation, thanks to the initiative of Cotton Development Board (CDB).
To popularise cotton farming in the area, the local office of CDB provides the cotton growers with seeds, fertilisers and pesticides on loan basis and purchases the produce from the growers for 'reasonable' prices, said farmers and CDB officials.
With the help of local CDB, 149 farmers, mostly marginal ones, cultivated cotton on a total of 67 hectares of their char lands under 10 'blocks' in Sadar upazila, CDB office sources said.
Cultivation of CB-9, CB-12 and Rupali-1 varieties of cotton yielded around six, eight and ten maunds per bigha this season and the production cost for the three varieties stood at around Tk 5,000, Tk 6,000 and Tk 7,000 per bigha.
In conformity with international market price, CDB has already fixed the prices of CB-9, CB-12 and Rupali-1 cotton at Tk 2400, Tk 2600 and Tk 2500 per maund and so, the expected profit per bigha is around Tk 9400, Tk 14800 and Tk 18000 respectively.
During this correspondent's visit to Naobhangachar in Pathalia village, Lokman Master, a retired primary school teacher, said he cultivated cotton on eight bighas of land at Naobhangachar and got good harvest.
"Now we feel comfortable to cultivate this crop as local CDB office helps us by providing seeds, fertilisers and pesticides through loan. And we can easily sell the produce to the board at a fixed price without any hazard," he said.
Local farmers are getting interested in cotton cultivation as it brings them good profit, said Md Abdul Goni, cotton unit officer of CDB.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments