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RMG loses edge on no care for local cotton

Lack of research, subsidy, policy lead to import of over 90pc of cotton demand

PORIMOL PALMA
Lack of research, subsidy and biosafety policy marginalised cotton farming, prompting the textile industry to import more than 90 percent of cotton from abroad in a measure that hiked the production cost of readymade garments.
Despite a huge demand for cotton for the textile and garment industries in Bangladesh, the government has apparently taken no significant step to upgrade cotton research and set up a research laboratory to develop better variet-
ies and technology, experts say.
The government did not shape a bio-safety policy to adopt better varieties and technology from other countries, said an official with the Cotton Development Board (CDB), asking not to be named.
By contrast, India took to the genetically-modified crop technology two years ago and is now adopting Israel's agronomic technology. India has declared Rs 60,000 crore (Tk 75,000 crore) in subsidy this year for cotton development.
Sagar Lohani, editor of the
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Cotton Bangladesh, a quarterly magazine, says the absence of a national policy on cotton and CDB's neglect contributed to the underdevelopment of cotton, a potential sector for Bangladesh.
Readymade garments will face a sharp competition in the post multifibre agreement (MFA) period because of high-priced cotton imports and lack of backwardlinkage industry, says Bangladesh Cotton Association Vice-Chairman Abul Kashem Ahmed.
The prices of cotton will be at least 15-20 percent less if it is produced locally and could cut the production cost of readymade garments significantly, says an official with Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), adding: "It will make the garment sector more competitive."
Each pound cotton from the global market costs 65 cent on average and the textile industry will have to import about 20 lakh bales of cotton a year at more than $400 million, the official said.
Bangladesh produces less than 1 lakh bale of cotton that translates into 5-8 percent of total consumption a year, he added.
CDB Executive Director Abdul Baten says the board asked the agriculture ministry to appoint adequate numbers of researchers for intensive research in a proposal
that he says the government is considering. An inter-ministerial committee is drafting a bio-safety policy, he mentioned.
In the absence of care for cotton, the production of other crops like flower, maize, banana, papaya and other vegetables became more popular to farmers as most of them can grow thrice a year and meet the direct demand of food, Baten said.
In a calculation, he showed maize of Tk 50,000 could grow in one hectare land in four to five months with Tk 28,000 in production cost and the cotton of Tk 54,000 can grow in the same land in six to seven months at the production cost of Tk 25,000.
Despite more profit in cotton production, farmers grow maize or other food crops as cotton takes more time, Baten said, adding: "We need more research to find the ways to cut the cotton production time and invent pest-resistant varieties."
Cotton also faces competition on the global market as the most intensive cotton-growing countries, especially the US and EU countries, hugely subsidise the farmers, said CDB's Senior Marketing Officer MG Rasul.
Citing the US government's $12.47 billion subsidies to farmers between August 1999 and July 2003, Rasul said the US kept itself as the world's second-largest producer only because of its subsidies.
The US share in world exports, which was 17 percent in 1998-99, increased to 42 percent in 2002-03 and reduced domestic cotton consumption. The EU countries also pay cotton farmers $1.07 billion a year in subsidy, says a Wall Street Journal report.
Those countries also do many researches and develop a high-yielding variety of cotton that reduces pesticide and production cost, Rasul said.
"Control of pesticide reduces at least 40 percent of production cost and if we can do it successfully, we can profit from more production."
Baten says the government keen to produce more cotton initiated a project in 2001 with the financial support of the European Union and technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation for reducing pesticide use.
Under the project scheduled to end in October, the CDB trained cotton farmers in the south and is motivating them to spread their knowledge to others.
A soil survey in the 1960s revealed Bangladesh has about 1.50 lakh hectares of cotton cultivable higher land, which another survey in 2003 said decreased to 1 lakh hectares.