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Download PDF Jute growers are upbeat as they are now getting good return on cultivating the ‘golden fibre’.
The prices have gone up in the last two years due to good demand in the international market, Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA) sources said.
“The prices of jute vary between Tk 950 and Tk 1200 per maund this year. Farmers get around 12 maund of jute fibre per bigha while the cultivation cost does not exceed Tk 2,500. And so, the farmers are getting good profit from jute cultivation now,” said Sirajul Islam, a farmer in Shanthia upazila under Pabna district.
Only three years ago, the price of jute fibre went down to around Tk 250-300 per maund and the farmers had almost abandoned cultivating jute as it was not cost effective.
“Fall in jute production in India and China during the last two years pushed up the demand of jute from Bangladesh. As a result, the price went up,” said BJA Vice-president Puspendu Mohan Saha.
He said the price of high-grade jute also showed buoyancy this year. Last year the volume of raw jute export from Bangladesh was around 24.47 lakh bales. India imported around 10 lakh bale jute from Bangladesh due to production shortfall there.
Similar amount of jute is expected to be exported this year, he added.
A group of farmers talking to The Daily Star correspondent at Ghugudoher beel (marshy land) expressed happiness over the increase of price of jute fibre.
Besides, jute sticks, used as firewood and for fencing, is also selling at higher prices, they said.
As jute cultivation has become more profitable than the cultivation of paddy, this year the enthusiastic farmers cultivated jute on more lands than they did in the previous years, farmers said.
During visits in the district, this correspondent found vast areas under jute cultivation. At some places, jute plants have already been harvested and the new fibre has also started coming in the market.
Although happy with the rise in jute price, the farmers said they do not get the price declared by the government owned jute mills.
The government-owned Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) fixed Tk 1200 per maund of jute for buying from the farmers but the jute traders at the local market do not give them the price on various pretexts, farmers said.
Instead of directly buying from the farmers, the traders buy jute from their nominated middlemen, said jute farmer Abdul Karim.
Around 50 lakh bales of jute are expected to be produced in the country this year, BJA sources said, adding that around 30 lakh bales will be consumed in the local mills and factories and the rest will be exported. Nearly 70 per cent of jute has already been harvested.
Now around 10 lakh acres of land in the country are under jute cultivation while around 60 per cent of high quality jute is produced in Pabna and Faridpur districts, sources said.
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