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Overview
Jute has been traditionally cultivated in the Bengal delta for many years and has a strong cultural relevance to the marginal and smallholder farmers that cultivate the crop. Whilst annual variation is anticipated, according to recent reports, the country is home to 4 million farmers, who tend to approximately cover 1.2 million acres of land.Around 33% of all jute comes from Bangladesh, making it the world’s second largest jute producer. Production of jute is highly labor-intensive, creating seasonal employment for 48,000 women and 108,000 men on the land and 187,000 men and women in the mills.
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The sector is the second largest employer of industrial labor in Bangladesh.
In the financial year, 2009-10, jute’s contribution to the GDP increased to 5% from previous year’s value of 4.3%; a figure that had been fluctuating around the 1% mark for at least five years previous 2007-2008. From 2006-07 to 2009-10 alone, the value of the jute sector jumped from approximately 65bn BDT to 350bn BDT.
Both government and private players have made recent investments in the industry, along with international organizations such as Traidcraft and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Jute growing is particularly suited to the poor, who tend to be more risk-averse than larger farmers. Women figure particularly prominently across all levels of the jute industry – as farm laborers and mill workers, and as small businesswomen and employees making and selling jute products – and are likely to become more involved as the diversified product range grows.
Jute is an eco-friendly crop – it is 100% biodegradable, and the plants assimilate significant amounts of CO2, helping reduce greenhouse gases. Katalyst promotes ribbon retting, which is an environment friendly on-farm processing technique that will reduce the negative impacts that conventional retting activities can have on closed-water bodies, ultimately helping to preserve biodiversity.
The major constraints hindering growth to this sector are: a) Insufficient supply of good quality imported seed; b) Lack of awareness among jute farmers regarding best post harvest technology and how practice affects prices; d) low mill productivity in terms of machinery and skill development and d) lack of market linkages and capacity building of Jute Diversified Product Producers.
Strategy
Katalyst’s vision is to bring about systemic change in the jute sector by increasing its competitiveness through improved quality, productivity and market access. This will also ensure a sustainable market mechanism which will allow Bangladesh to take advantage of the growing demand for jute both for local and international markets.
Intervention Areas
- Ensuring availability of quality seed
Availability of quality seed is a major obstacle to the sector’s growth. Katalyst is working with the Bangladesh Seed Association (BSA) to address the regulatory issues of seed imports and to lobby with the Seed Wing in this regard. If policies can be changed, better quality seed could be imported and jute farmers in the country would be benefit.
- Introduction of improved retting process
Retting is the most crucial part of jute production, affecting both the quality of jute and the price. Ample availability of water is crucial for conventional retting, and the more recent ribbon retting technique presents the most efficient use of water. After successful piloting of ribbon retting with Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) and DAE in 2010, BJRI presented a similar program with a 2 year time horizon worth BDT 34 million to MoA on promoting ribbon retting nationwide; which was approved and will be implemented from 2011. Katalyst will tag with BJRI in this program but only in certain areas of activities (such as R&D for better retting methods, ensuring commercial supply of ribboners, etc.) to further ensure the effectiveness of the program.
- Increasing efficiency and diversification at mill level
To increase capacity and efficiency of the mill industry,. Katalyst will facilitate a study to address the issues related to mill-level productivity, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA) and Bangladesh Jute Mill Association (BJMA). The study will be jointly conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
- Improving market access for the jute diversified product (JDP) Producers
Katalyst and Traidcraft (an EC-funded project) are working together in this area to improve market access and skill capacity of JDP producers. Katalyst and Traidcraft are currently planning to design interventions to stimulate potential in this sector further.
Co-Facilitator and Partners
Katalyst is working directly with key market players such as BSA, BJRI, BJMA and the BJSA and Jute Diversified Product Council (JDPC).
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