Jute harvest gains momentum in Rajshahi

Due to the favourable weather conditions, Jute harvesting is gaining momentum throughout the eight districts of the Rajshahi division as farmers expect a higher yield this season.

Currently, most of the growers along with their family members are engaged in harvesting, decomposing and segregating jute, generating seasonal job opportunities for many people.

Jute farming has exceeded the target this season as interest among the growers in cash crop farming is seen increasing everywhere in the division including its vast Barind tract.

The newly harvested jute has started appearing on a limited scale. However, it will be available in the markets abundantly within the next couple of weeks upon starting full-scale harvesting and decomposing activities.

Siddiqur Rahman, a resident of Debipur village under Durgapur upazila, has cultivated jute on two bighas of land, saying the frequent rainfall benefited the growing plants to a greater extent.

He has spent Tk 15,000-16,000 on farming. He is expecting around 20 maunds yield valued around Tk 45,000-50,000. Apart from this, he will get jute sticks worth around Tk 5,000 from farming.

He had sold jute at Tk 2,000 per maund during the previous year’s harvesting time but its price increased gradually.

Rahman said the growers have got scopes of decomposing their jute in lease-free water bodies as the district administration has taken necessary steps in this regard this year.

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has set a target of producing around 14.53 lakh bales of jute from 2.22 lakh hectares of land in the division during the current season.

Target has been set to produce 5.60 lakh bales of jute from 48,827 hectares of land in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Natore districts under the Rajshahi Agricultural Zone, while 8.93 lakh bales from 77,986 hectares of land in Bogura, Joypurhat, Pabna and Sirajganj districts under Bogura Agricultural Zone.

Officials and farmers are very much hopeful about harvesting better jute yield in the country’s northwest region this season.

Farmers are humming towards jute farming as they are getting lucrative prices for its products during the last couple of years giving a message of getting back to the golden era of the cash crop in near future.

Abdur Razzaque, a farmer of Shreepur village under Paba upazila, said jute’s golden era has started returning back.

He said the role of private jute mills and the government’s declaration about the mandatory use of jute bags in packaging public food grains boosted jute cultivation.

Last year, the initial market price of jute was Tk 1,400-1,500 per maund. But, finally, the price stood at Tk 5,200-5,500 per maund, he said.

Razzaque mentioned the price could have been more if there were no syndicate of middlemen and traders. He sought government intervention in controlling the syndicate to facilitate the farmers to get fair prices.

He said farmers got fair prices of jute during the last couple of years and as a result, they are now eager to cultivate more jute.

DAE Additional Director Shamsul Wadud said jute farming has started getting a brighter dimension through increasing its production and adopting other effective measures.

The farmers have started adopting the latest line sowing jute technology using seed machines saving huge seeds and reducing farming costs and ribbon-retting methods to get quality fibre and more profit.

The AD added that necessary measures are being taken for making the farmers habituated to promoting high-yielding jute varieties for boosting its production.