INDIA’S recent move to slap a ban on the export of jute seeds has alerted the government since Bangladesh imports 80 per cent of its requirement of the seeds from the close neighbour. Bangladesh also depends on India for many other items ranging from sensitive commodities to medicines, automobiles and pharmaceutical raw materials, say experts and trade body leaders.
According to them, a heavy dependence on India for certain goods often backfires. They suggested the diversification of import sources, saying single source is not a viable business option. They also mentioned that since 2019, Bangladesh’s consumers have been spending more than Tk 100 on a kilogram of onion during the September-November period due to ban on export of this kitchen ingredient by India.
The government has embarked on a programme to cut the country’s import dependence for jute seeds and propagate a better breed derived from jute genome decoding. It has been over two years that Bangladeshi scientists bred a jute variety — BJRI Tossa-8 (also known as Robi-1) — with 20 per cent higher yield potential. After a series of meetings late last year, the Agriculture Ministry has come up with a programme of attaining self-sufficiency in jute seeds production in three to five years’ time.
Rolling out a fund of over Tk. 100 crore, the government will go for a buy-back arrangement soon under which, farmers will grow jute seeds and the BADC will buy those from the farmers, maintain seed quality and sell the same among jute growers for cultivating better quality fibre with much higher yield potentials.
Reliance on a single source for import of Covid-19 vaccine also backfired. Since April 26 the government has suspended its first-dose Covid vaccination for an indefinite period on the back of the uncertainty over the supply of vaccine from the Indian manufacturer Serum Institute.
We believe since moves are underway to provide incentives and buy-back guarantees, growers would be interested to adopt the high yielding variety — BJRI Tossa-8 – jute developed by Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), which in turn will result in aggregate higher national output of the fibre.
