Jute output likely to go up: DAE
BSS
A robust growth in jute production is expected this season due to farmers easy access quality seeds, transfer of know-how from the agriculture extension department (DAE) and fair price for couple of years, official sources said, reports BSS.
DAE sources said they have set a target of harvesting 72.83 lakh bales of jute from 6.70 lakh hectares of land during the 2016-2017 season. The expected outcome has been calculated based on higher agriculture land earmarked for jute cultivation as well as the potential return from the incentives offered by the government and the market.
The jute export has increased while the domestic demand has also gone up due to pragmatic steps by the government and a shift of peoples mindset to use environment-friendly jute products instead of polythene, DAE officials said.
Under the programme, the farmers are expected to produce 68.20 lakh bales of Tosha variety jute fiber and 4.63 lakh bales of Deshi variety fiber during this season. The northern districts- Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat
and Nilphamari under Rangpur agriculture zone - alone are expected to
supply around 10 per cent of the national target.
DAE said the farmers have just started sowing jute seeds, although the peak cultivation is to get momentum from first week of the next month under 13 agriculture regions of the country. The framers would get better yield if they could complete sowing jute seeds by the end of April, said Dr M A Mazid, an agriculture scientist and adviser to BRAC International.
Horticulture Specialist Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam said farmers will produce 6.41 lakh bales of Tosha variety jute fiber from 58,350 lakh hectares of land and 53,255 bales of Deshi variety fibre from 5,751 hectares of land in Rangpur region this season.
He said the farmers have been procuring quality jute seed easily from the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) as well as from other recommended government and non-government organizations and dealers.
Talking to the news agency, jute growers Abdus Salam, Echahaq Ali and Ershadul Haque thanked the government for ensuring supply of quality seeds through BADC, other government subsidies and enlisted dealers.
