The country observed the National Jute Day this week for the first time in its history. The objective was to revive the past glory of the golden fibre and boost its demand in both domestic and international markets.
The decision to observe the Jute Day nationwide was taken last year through holding of colourful rallies in cities and rivers, cultural programmes and art competitions in order to involve all communities and stakeholders in the jute revival programme.Â
Jute was once the biggest foreign exchange-earning commodity for Bangladesh. But after years of neglect, the commodity started registering negative growth and lost its glory both at home and overseas. As a result, growers backtracked from jute cultivation while both production and price came down to a very low level.
However, a fresh initiative was taken during the tenure of this government to revive the sector again. Innovation and diversified use of jute in local and international markets have opened up a new opportunity for the revival of jute's glory. The government is providing necessary incentives to the jute sector for its new branding and global dominance.
Last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared the jute and jute goods as agro-based products. Such a declaration helped this foreign exchange-earning sector avail all the benefits the country's other agro-based items get. Currently, agro-based products are getting 20 per cent cash incentive on their exports.
The fate of millions of farmers and workers does, indeed, depend on the jute sector. The government has decided to formulate an independent policy to revive the glory of the country's 'golden fibre', further expand its market at home and abroad and also promote its diversified use.
The jute minister remains upbeat about the prospect of jute. He said jute workers have regained their confidence while production, export volumes and prices of jute went up. Above all, the government has the political will to improve this sector, he added.Â
With the closure of Adamjee and other jute mills, tragedy had fallen on jute growers and traders as there were no buyers in the country, opening the flood-gates for smuggling of raw jute to India. And the situation had miserably worsened when the largest jute-growing country in the region produced just only 0.1 million tonnes per year, while India was producing over two million tonnes of raw jute annually. Such a worst situation continued for a long time.
There is no denying that Bangladesh's jute industries are running mainly with outdated technology. This has resulted in low productivity and high material cost for production. It is time for Bangladesh to update technology to meet the techno-economic need.
The revival of the jute sector will certainly help rejuvenate the rural economy directly and indirectly. What is needed now is formulation of a good jute policy with close cooperation of, and concerted efforts by ministries of jute, agriculture, industry and textiles. Proper implementation of the policy may make the jute sector dynamic.Â
Issues relating to jute sector should be properly looked into on a priority basis for implementation of the required policy-support. This sector did not receive due attention from all the past governments. It is time that jute industry got due attention.
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Reviving the past glory of jute
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Published: March 08, 2017 20:54:02 | Updated: October 17, 2017 18:51:45
Reviving the past glory of jute
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