Farmers pick cotton over tobacco

Farmers in Jhenidah have yet again moved to growing cotton instead of tobacco in the hopes of getting higher rates than previous years. Moreover, the variety they cultivated fell victim to pests while production quantity per bigha failed to reach its mark. This year the new variety will yield a double harvest and be free from pests. As a result farmers will enjoy a higher profit from cotton farming this year.   
The Cotton Development Board (CDB) officials said, farmers usually cultivated the CB-9 and CB-10 varieties of cotton seeds in the past which never exceed the production target of seven tons per hectare.
The cotton plants are used as raw material as threads for garment factories, while the seeds are used as fish food.
The Lalteer and supreme seeds of China varieties are expected to offer 18 to 20 mounds.
Cotton Development Board (CDB) of Jhenidah said, in the 2013/14 cotton farming session, the target for cotton farming was 5,500 hectares. However, farmers from three districts (Magura, Jhenidah and Faridpur) could just achieve 4,015.
This session (2014/15) the target was set at 5,200 hectors but farmers could only harvest 4,056.
The break wise statistics of three districts are as follows: in Magura the target was 1,000 hectors from which 723 was achieved, 4,050 hectors in Jhenidah from which 3,231 was harvested while in Faridpur the target was set at 150 hectors while 102 was achieved.
The information on cotton plots was gathered at the villages of Enayetpur Roghunathpur, Pirojpur in Kaliganj upazila. Along with the villages of Baluhar, Solaimanpur, Panchpatila and Talsar in Kotchandpur and finally Habibpur village in the district's Sailkupa upazila.
The rate might be 2,200 to 2,400 this year and the production will be more than double this season.
Rubel Hossain from Fatikkhali village under sadar upazila said, he has cultivated two bighas of cotton this year instead of tobacco. He expects that he will get Tk. 2,500 per mound this year.
Chief Cotton Development officer Kutub Uddin of Jhenidah said, farmers are leaning more towards cotton farming than tobacco, since the price of cotton is higher than tobacco. Moreover, the farmers are also aware about the benefits of cotton.