Jute, known as the golden fiber of Bangladesh, was a major export item even in the 80s before the initiation of the RMG industry. This potential sector has been struggling to survive because of mismanagement and corruption. The last nail in the coffin appears to have come from the decision to close all 22 state-owned jute mills last year. In the time of Covid-19 pandemic, when the workers were suffering from the economic slowdown, the decision to shut down the factories making thousands of workers unemployed was rather inhuman.
A news report published in a national daily on Thursday said that currently some 130 jute mills out of 200 listed with the Bangladesh Jute Mills Association are in operation in the country. Of them, the northern region accounts for nearly 70 mills, most of which are small and medium in size. The mills cater to the local market for hessian (canvas), jute bags and clothes as well as export destinations including India. Some small jute mills have resumed production after remaining shut for several months as raw jute prices soared after last year’s harvests and for the pandemic-induced business losses.
Economists had criticised the last year’s closure of jute mills, saying that the workers had been made to pay for the governance failure of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation. Not only the workers will suffer, but also an economy that is already unstable due to the pandemic situation. They also alleged that the government had kept the sector loss-incurring intentionally by not attending to the prevailing mismanagement and corruption. In reality, over the last decade, the government had allocated at least Tk 6,941 crore of public money for the jute corporation, but the sector continued to incur losses due to irregularities in jute purchase and lack of an organised marketing strategy.
In order to make the jute mills profitable the government should create and increase the demand for jute products in the local market, and properly enforce the Jute Packaging Act of 2010 which makes the use of jute bags in packing food and farm produce mandatory. More importantly, it must acknowledge the potential of the jute industry in our national economy and reconsider its policy for the sector with the interest of the state in mind.
