Jute cultivation has nearly doubled this year from that of 2010 thanks mainly to a sustainable price and multipurpose use of the fibre across the globe.
According to the Directorate of Agricultural Extension data, around 8.33 lakh hectares of land has been brought under jute cultivation this year. The area was around 4.8 lakh hectares last year with the yield standing at 50.79 lakh bales or 10.58 bales per hectare.
The DAE estimates this year's total yield of raw jute at 88.30 lakh bales, based on an assumed average production of 10.6 bales per hectare.
The DAE at the beginning of this year had targeted jute cultivation in 7.5 lakh hectares of land with an estimated production of 79.5 lakh bales.
The area brought under jute cultivation has nearly doubled year on year as farmers are now more eager and encouraged to cultivate the cash crop due to a rising price trend fuelled by increased demand as well as more diverse use of jute across the world, said DAE deputy director Moshleh Uddin Faruque.
DAE officials however apprehend that the assumed increased yield of the fibre following the cultivation boost may result in the farmers incurring loss as traders often take the opportunity of overproduction to lower the price.
Faruque said the government should take steps to procure jute from the farmers at a sustainable price to prevent such an eventuality.
He said the DAE had already submitted a proposal to the jute ministry for allocating a fund of Tk 500 crore to Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation for procuring jute from the farmers at a reasonable price. However, the decision on the proposal is yet to be made, he added.
In terms of cultivation area, Jessore tops the districts with 2.15 lakh hectares of land brought under jute cultivation, followed by Barisal with 2.08 hectares, Rangpur with 1.19 lakh hectares, Rajshahi with 1.37 lakh hectares, Mymensingh with 0.86 lakh hectares, and Dhaka with 0.52 lakh hectares. Jute has also been cultivated in 0.16 lakh more hectares of land in Comilla, Sylhet, and Chittagong districts.
Faruque said the state-owned Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited has manufactured around 15,396 jute fibre separators (ribbon retting devices) worth Tk 3.62 crore under a government initiative. The devices that can separate fibres from jute stalks with very little water will be distributed among the targeted farmers by July 15.
DAE officials said the devices would be distributed among the targeted farmers of 171 upazilas in the districts that usually see little rainfall like Naogaon, Pabna, Thakurgaon, Kurigram, Dinajpur, and Jessore.
The Bangladesh Jute Research Institute in collaboration with the DAE has trained a number of farmers on how to operate the ribbon retting devices.
The local jute industry, which employs around 1.50 lakh workers, has now become the second largest export earner after the readymade garment industry.
The jute sector in fiscal 2009-10 logged 76 per cent higher export earnings year on year at $736 million, equivalent to Tk 5,225 crore approximately, and the demand for Bangladeshi jute on the global market continues to be buoyant in the current fiscal year too.
In the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, the country has earned $1030.57 million from export of jute and jute goods, posting a 42.04 per cent year-on-year rise. Of the sum, raw jute exports accounted for $331.61 million, jute yarn and twine $463.58 million, jute sack and jute bag $188.86 million, and other jute products $46.52 million.
Source : New Age
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