Bangladesh has a target to increase cotton production fivefold by 2030. New varieties will be introduced and cultivation areas will be expanded. Domestic cotton production will be enhanced using newly invented high yield and hybrid varieties and using the vast low fertile barren lands in the country's southeastern hill region alongside some plain districts.

As of now huge amounts have to be spent every year on imports to meet the expanding demand in the textile industry. Bangladesh’s textile and spinning mills and other users import cotton from India, the United States, several African and Central Asian nations, Australia, Brazil and Pakistan. The country currently produces less than 0.2 million cotton bales a year against the annual demand for 8.5 million bales.

Cotton is mainly sown in the July to August period and harvested in between December and January and currently its cultivation is spread over 45,000 hectares. Over the past decade the production volume has nearly doubled. The Cotton Development Board was set up in 1972 to increase cotton production and is entrusted with the task of conducting research, producing, distributing and marketing seeds, expanding cotton cultivation and distributing loans among farmers. The board has developed a new cotton variety and has invented two cultivation methods.