Nepalgunj, August 7 :

Cotton development committee (CDC) situated at Khajura in Banke, which was closed for the past three years, has resumed its operations from this year.

The cotton development committee (CDC), Khajura — established in 1982 — has encouraged farmers to plant cotton on 100 hectares of land in Banke, Bardiya and Dang this year, an officer at the CDC, Dal Bahadur Bista said adding that cotton has been planted in Satbariya, Rajpur, Purandhara, Pawannagar and Shantinagar of Dang, Gulariya, Panditpur of Bardiya and Kusum, Kacha-napur, Bageshwori, Kamdi and Manikapur of Banke.

“The favourable season to plant cotton is May to August,” Bista said. He added that the committee resumed operations, as the country’s situation has improved significantly and also because industries have assured that they would buy cotton produced by CDC.

The CDC could not operate over the past three years after the Hetauda Textiles Industry, which was one of the major buyers of cotton, closed down due to insurgency. He said, “Cotton production has totally halted in the fiscal year 2004-05 and 2005-06. However, cotton was cultivated in some places in the fiscal year 2003-04.” Cotton farming has also been halted in Banke, Bardiya and Dang after Maoists detonated bombs at cottonseed farm situated at Kumbhar of Kalika VDC, Bardiya. Cotton farming at Kumbhar has been halted completely at present after the freed Kamaiyas captured the land of the VDC.

Bista said that the CDC is yet to receive Rs 10 million each from Hetauda Textiles Industry and Butwal Spinning Mills.