The government will give maximum financial and other support to research on Phuti karpas, the cotton used to make Dhaka muslin, State Minister for Textiles and Jute Md Shariful Alam said. He was speaking as special guest at a seminar on developing varieties of Phuti karpas cotton, organised by the Bangladesh Handloom Board at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka on Sunday, 18 October.
The state minister said the handloom board's research has already made encouraging progress. Ongoing work on Phuti karpas varieties, their genetic traits and fibre quality has opened new possibilities for sustainable muslin production.
He stressed handing the revived muslin-making technology quickly to private entrepreneurs. Bringing in skilled weavers, entrepreneurs and investors could expand commercial production, he said, and producing, marketing and exporting muslin while keeping its distinct character and quality would create jobs and earn foreign currency.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has discussed progress on Phuti karpas and muslin research with those involved several times and given directions, the state minister said, and the textiles and jute ministry will provide maximum support accordingly. He called on the government, research institutes, universities and private entrepreneurs to work together on research, technology transfer, weavers' skills and marketing.
Textiles and jute secretary Sharaf Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Bangladesh Handloom Board chairman Md Zakir Hossain and Dr Ahmed Mohamed Abdelmoghny Abdelbaki, chief cotton breeding researcher at Egypt's Cotton Research Institute, attended along with researchers, scientists, teachers, students and entrepreneurs from home and abroad.
Photo: Atikur.khokon / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); desi cotton (Gossypium arboreum)
Source: Sarabangla
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