Jute rotting pollutes rivers, threatens fish in Jhenidah
Alternative ribbon retting fails to attract growers
Farmers take jute sticks after rotting the plants in the Garai River in Shailkupa upazila under Jhenidah district, leaving the water badly contaminated.Photo: STAR
Farmers have continued rotting their jute plants in all the 12 rivers and other water bodies in the district as ribbon retting method, a device for rotting the plants with much less water to get quality fibre, is yet to gain popularity. As this year saw inadequate rainfall, pollution of rivers and other water bodies due to stacking of huge amount of jute poses threat to fish and other aquatic creatures. Introduced among the local farmers in a very limited scale 32 years ago, the ribbon retting method became a fad due to lack of steps for its promotion. This year the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) took an initiative to re-introduce the system but scanty training and lack of response from farmers resulted in its failure again. "We are not familiar with the system. A few farmers were informed about the new system but they did not show interest,” Altaf Hossain, a farmer of Enayetpur village under Kaliganj upazila, said. Asgar Ali, another farmer of Kulchara village under Shailkupa upazila, said, “Ribbon retting method is very easy but we took training on it only for a day, which is not sufficient.” A few elderly farmers said the then upazila chairman inaugurated this sort of system about 32 years ago but no step was taken to promote it among the farmers during the past three decades. "This season five farmers were trained in each upazila. Local farmers were provided with Tk 200 each for purchasing polythene and digging hole to establish ribbon retting system. It may take time to adopt the system by each and every farmer," said DAE Deputy Director Ahmed Hossain. During a recent visit to Jhenidah Sadar and Shailkupa upazilas, this correspondent saw that water of a few rivers has turned black and stinky. Thousands of people were catching fish in the polluted water bodies that contain mostly dead or nearly dead fish. Many people living beside rivers said they suffer from various skin diseases when they use river water for bathing and other purposes. Many farmers at Kulchara and Bhatai villages in Shailkupa upazila said they were hopeful when the government was encouraging the farmers about the bright future of jute cultivation. But their hopes and aspirations were shattered, they said. As the price of the newly harvested jute is around Tk 1,800 a maund (40kg), the farmers are expecting good profit from it but problem in rotting jute due to water crisis frustrates them. Traditionally, farmers remove fibre after rotting jute plants in water for two to three weeks, but ribbon retting system requires extracting the fibre first and then keeping it in water pots for rotting. It requires much less water. Ribbon retting needs polythene and a big hole in the soil. After separating raw fibre from the jute stalk it is kept in the water hole. Usually around 450 millimetres of rainfall is required between June and August for rotting of jute but this year the district saw 135 millimetres of rainfall, according to the DAE. As a result, many farmers are carrying their jute from one place to another in search of water to rot jute. According to the DAE, the farmers in six upazilas of the district brought their 24,638 hectares of land under jute cultivation in the current season whereas it was 10,517 hectares last year. Harvesting on fifty per cent of the jute fields was completed till August this year but now farmers have stopped harvesting the cash crop due to lack of water.
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