Sunny day is back for jute, the golden fibre derived from reed-like plants that had amply boosted Bangladesh’s agro-based economy for decades despite tough competition with cheaper synthetics.Now that the love worldwide for more durable synthetics has been on a down turn, Bangladesh’s export of raw jute and jute products started regaining their share in the global markets, especially because scientists and researchers say the natural fibre is health friendly and good for multiple uses.Officials associated wit he jute industry say that with the annual season of harvesting and marketing of jute now started in full swing, coupled with much higher prices than last year and spike in international demand, Bangladeshi farmers are happy and say they will increase jute farming further in the next season.The process is lengthy – starting from sowing or planting jute seeds, fertilizing, cutting and decomposing under water, plucking the fibre, drying, processing and finally marketing. Locally jute is purchased by the government and both state-owned and private jute mills in the country. However, some of the raw jute are also smuggled to India, officials said.A maund (37 kg) of dry jute now sells between Tk800 and 2,000 depending on quality at different markets compared to Tk500 and 1,000 last year, respectively.Jute is used for making carpets, sacking. Yarn and a variety of other items such as shopping bags, grocery packs etc. The government has banned use of synthetic bags in Bangladesh and instead ordered making and use of jute bags.Still some dishonest traders sell synthetic bags bypassing the eyes of law but often get caught and punished.Bangladesh this year will reap a bumper harvest of jute, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources told the Daily Observer. So, Bangladesh will likely export more jute n earn more foreign exchange that will bring back the glory of the “golden fibre,” which was once the country’s principal cash crop and top export.Farmers said they were blessed by weather this year – after having a drought condition in the initial weeks after sowing seeds then came plenty of showers that made the plants strong, tall and pricy. They made a good margin in profit after all expenses, jute growers said.Jute suffered a setback In early 1980s when the country’s buggest Adamjee Jute Mills were shut down after years f operational losses – partly because of restive work foce and partly because of growing popularity of systhetics worldwide.Now that trend has reveres substantially, jute officials, traders and farmers say.According to DAE sources, 7.25 lakh hectares of land have been brought under jute cultivation across the country of the last fiscal year (2015-16) with production target of 75.60 lakh tonnes.They said, 7.2 lakh hectares of land have been targeted for jute cultivation in the current fiscal year (2016-17).Kifayat Ullah Director General of Department of Jute, told the Daily Observer, farmers are happy that prices are higher and the production production is more than the target in this jute season.Yet the jute goods makers are apprehensive that they may still face export competitiveness as global demand is still tepid, he added.”It is good sign those farmers are getting better prices this season compared to last year,” he said, adding that farmers have now started adopting the latest line sowing jute technology using seeder machines thus saving huge seeds and reducing farming costs — and ribbon-retting method to get quality fibre and more profit.He also said that necessary measures are being taken for making the farmers habituated to high yielding jute varieties for boosting its production.Choitonno Kumar Das, field officer of the DAE, said that Jute cultivation increased as demand of raw jute has gradually been rising in both public and private sector jute mills.At present, most of the growers along with their family members are engaged in harvesting, decomposing, segregating and selling of jute.The owner of Monsur Jute Mill (a private sector mill) said the government has framed law for banning synthetic bags and anyone violating the lw would be punished.Kifayet said that the government has taken initiatives to expand export of jute products including sacks, bags and yarn through diversification of markets to bring their glorious past back and to boost export earnings.According to the sources, presently, there are 249 jute manufacturing units in the country. Of them, 96 private spinning mills produce jute yarn, while 24 state-owned mills and 145 private jute mills manufacture hessian, sacks and bags.In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh exported jute goods worth $868.5m, which was 5.34 per cent higher than $824.5m a year ago.State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam said the government has declared jute goods processing as an agro-based industry.For this reason, the government should provide the same facilities for jute products like agro items, he said.About 40 million people in Bangladesh are involved directly and indirectly in the jute industry. So, it is necessary to provide equal treatment to the jute products like the other agro products to keep the existing employment of the sector intact.The sources said, presently, all jute goods and goods made of jute yarn enjoy 10 per cent and 7.5 per cent cash subsidy respectively.Besides, Bangladesh Bank has created a refinance fund worth Tk 2.0 billion for the jute sector. The fund is open for the exporters and traders concerned of the sector.
