World Cotton Day is being observed today, October 7. The day is marked to highlight the contribution of cotton to agriculture, employment, international trade, and industrialization, as well as to emphasize the importance of sustainable cotton production.
This year's theme is "Cotton for Good: Building Prosperity through Trade, Transformation, and Collaboration."
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), cotton is one of the world's most important natural fibers, with applications in apparel, household goods, and various industrial sectors.
Millions of farmers, workers, and their families are engaged in cotton cultivation, processing, and trade worldwide.
Cotton serves as a source of livelihood and income for hundreds of millions of people in about 80 countries globally, with nearly 80 percent of it used in apparel manufacturing.
The UN General Assembly officially recognized October 7 as World Cotton Day in 2021. Prior to that, the observance began in 2019 at the initiative of four cotton-producing African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali.
The top five cotton-producing countries in the world are China, India, Brazil, the United States, and Pakistan. Approximately 24 million farmers are engaged in cotton cultivation worldwide.
From production to processing and trade, the cotton sector employs an estimated 125 million people. Globally, cotton is the most widely used fiber after polyester, accounting for roughly 20 percent of total fiber demand.
However, the market share of cotton has declined over the past few decades due to the increasing use of synthetic fibers.
Additionally, climate change, supply chain disruptions, competition from synthetics, shifting policies, and changing consumer preferences have become major challenges for the cotton sector.
To address these challenges, increasing emphasis is being placed on science, research, new technologies, sound management, and enhanced investment.
For Bangladesh, the importance of cotton is even greater. Cotton is one of the primary raw materials for the country's readymade garment (RMG) industry, which is its largest export sector.
Field-grown cotton is processed into yarn, fabric, and ultimately readymade garments, which are then exported to consumers around the world.
Despite having massive garment production and export capacity, Bangladesh lags far behind in cotton production.
The country's annual demand for cotton is about 8.5 million bales, whereas domestic production in fiscal year 2024 was only around 205,000 bales. This means a very small fraction of total demand is met through local production.
According to FAO data, while nearly 24 million farmers are involved in cotton cultivation globally, Bangladesh's domestic production is minimal, requiring almost the entire demand to be met through imports.
Consequently, any volatility in international cotton prices, freight charges, foreign exchange shortages, or supply chain instability directly impacts the country's yarn, textile, and RMG sectors.
In recent times, Brazil has emerged as one of the primary cotton suppliers to Bangladesh, alongside imports from India, the United States, African nations, and Australia.
While there are opportunities to increase domestic cotton production, limited arable land makes it difficult to boost output merely by expanding acreage.
Therefore, emphasis needs to be placed on increasing yields per acre through high-yielding seed varieties, modern farming techniques, irrigation, mechanization, pest control, and farmer training.
Ensuring guaranteed markets and fair prices is also vital to encourage farmers to cultivate cotton. Forward-purchase contracts between industrial enterprises and farmers can help mitigate market risks.
Furthermore, there is a need to develop modern ginning, quality testing, grading, and storage facilities in cotton-producing regions.
According to experts, alongside boosting local production, maximizing value addition from imported cotton within the country is equally important.
Through coordinated efforts among agriculture, trade, and textile sector stakeholders, research organizations, farmers, spinners, textile mills, and garment exporters, this sector can be further strengthened.
Thus, World Cotton Day is not just a day to highlight the importance of cotton cultivation, but also an opportunity to rethink cotton's connection to farmer livelihoods, industrial raw materials, employment, international trade, and sustainable economies.
For an apparel-dependent country like Bangladesh, increasing domestic cotton production, reducing import dependency, and creating pathways for higher value addition from cotton present a major growth opportunity.
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