BSS, Rangpur :
Farmers are happy getting lucrative prices of jute after completing its harvest and producing 6,54,832 bales (1,18,832 tonnes) of the crop in Rangpur agriculture region this season.
Assistant Director at Rangpur regional office of the Department of Jute Agriculturist Md Solayman Ali said farmers are selling newly harvested jute at rates between Taka 2,500 and Taka 3,200 per mound (every 40 kg) depending on varieties and quality of the fibre.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials said farmers completed harvesting jute last week and got an excellent yield rate of 13.74 bales (2.49 tonnes) per hectare of land on an average.
Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Emdad Hossain Sheikh said a target of producing 6,77,619 bales of jute was fixed from 58,124 hectares of land for the region this season.
The target included production of 6,35,208 bales of ‘Tosha’ variety jute fibre from 53,690 hectares of land, 33,863 bales of ‘Deshi’ variety from 3,574 hectares, 2,555 bales of ‘Mechta’ variety from 350 hectares and 5,993 bales of Kenaf variety from 510 hectares of land.
“The DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and other organizations provided necessary assistance, training and technologies to farmers for enhancing jute farming this season,” he said.
However, farmers have finally cultivated jute on 51,627 hectares of land, less by 6,497 hectares of land against the fixed farming target, and recent floods damaged standing jute crop on 3,958 hectares of land in the region.
Farmers had mostly cultivated high yielding varieties of jute on more land area though the fixed target marked a shortfall due to crop diversification and cultivation of other crops on more land area.
“After completing jute harvest on the remaining 47,699 hectares of land last week in Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts, farmers got excellent output of the fibre crop,” Hossain added.
Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said farmers rotted their harvested jute plants in water bodies alongside adopting ribbon retting method to get better quality fibre amidst a scarcity of water.
“Demand of jute has increased largely following declaration of the fibre as a national agricultural product and mandatory use of jute sacs in various sectors ensuring its fair price and making jute farming more profitable for farmers in recent years,” Rashid added.
Jute growers Sabbir Ahmed, Dulal Hossain, Mohibur Rahman and Mohsin Ali at Badarganj Market in Rangpur and Kanthalbari Bazar in Kurigram said they sold their newly harvested jute at rates between Taka 2,500 and Taka 3,200 per mound.
Similarly, farmers Abdus Sabur and Kafil Uddin at Kaliganj Bazar in Lalmonirhat said they sold their harvested ‘Tosha’ variety of jute at rates between Taka 2,800 and Taka 3,200 per mound recently.
