The government plans to gradually increase domestic cotton production from the current 2.24 lakh bales to 19 lakh bales by 2050 by expanding cultivation to 53 of the country's 64 districts, officials said today (15 October).
"We have adopted short-, medium- and long-term plans to increase cotton production 8.5-fold and expand cultivation from 39 to 53 districts," Cotton Development Board (CDB) Executive Director Md Rezaul Amin told BSS.
Under the plans, the CDB aims to produce 5 lakh bales of lint cotton, the raw, clean fibre separated from cotton seeds, within the next four years.
The board aims to produce 10 lakh bales by 2040 and 19 lakh bales by 2050 by expanding the cultivation area to 2 lakh hectares.
Amin said the new districts to be brought under cotton cultivation are Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Barishal, Bhola, Barguna, Chattogram, Feni, Cox's Bazar and Nilphamari.
Bangladesh is currently almost entirely dependent on cotton imports and ranks among the world's largest cotton importers, largely because it is one of the leading exporters of readymade garments (RMG).
CDB officials said domestic production currently meets only around 3-4% of the country's annual cotton requirement, which stands at nearly 80 lakh bales.
However, officials also said domestic production meets 18-20% of the country's consumption of the key raw material used to produce fabrics for the local market.
The country produces two varieties of cotton, upland and hill cotton, depending on soil conditions.
Officials said they planned to expand cotton cultivation on high charlands and shoals, in the northwestern Barind region, on suitable hilly land, on comparatively less fertile and low-productivity land, and in saline- and drought-prone areas.
Cotton can also be cultivated in orchards alongside vegetables, pulses and spices, they added.
At a meeting with agriculture ministry officials on 13 September, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman asked the CDB to submit a detailed plan after reviewing the country's potential for cotton production.
The parliamentary standing committee on the agriculture ministry also recommended taking swift and effective measures to boost cotton production and reduce the country's substantial import costs at a meeting three days later.
Bangladesh first cultivated cotton in the Rangpur region in 1976. The CDB was established shortly after independence to meet the domestic demand for raw cotton from the country's textile industries.
The country took its first initiative to expand cotton research during the government of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman in 1978, after importing cotton seeds from the United States for the first time.
In 1980, Bangladesh established the Cotton Research Centre and Seed Production Farm at Jagadishpur in Chowgachha upazila of Jashore under the Cotton Development Project (CDP).
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia renamed the CDB's three key farms as Cotton Research, Training and Seed Multiplication Farms and established a separate cotton farm in Sreepur, Gazipur, in 1994.
CDB Soil Nutrition and Water Management Specialist Dr Md Gazi Golam Mortuza said cotton had emerged as one of the country's most profitable cash crops as jute cultivation had declined.
"No other crop in the country is as profitable as cotton. Higher yields will financially benefit farmers and reduce the volume of raw cotton imports," he added.
Mortuza said the cost of cultivating cotton was approximately Tk15,000 per unit of land, while a farmer could earn Tk60,000 by producing 15 maunds of raw cotton on one bigha of land.
CDB officials said the board needed to recruit expert personnel to implement the plan. The organisation currently has 483 employees against 864 approved positions.
CDB Senior Ginning Officer Mohammad Mofazzal Hossain said cotton cultivation also benefited soil health, while repeatedly growing the same crop, such as maize, on the same land could seriously degrade soil quality.
According to official statistics, Bangladesh spent Tk80,000 crore ($6.51 billion) importing 73 lakh bales of raw cotton and yarn from abroad in the 2025-26 fiscal year.