Jute rotting faces problem for want of adequate water
Tired of waiting for rainwater to rot harvested jute, a farmer peels out the fibre before required rotting as the water beside the field is too inadequate for the purpose. The photo was taken from Ghegar Bazar in Faridpur union under Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha district a couple of days ago.Photo: STAR
Jute farmers of several northern districts are facing problem to rot and process the natural fibre as water bodies have dried up due to scanty rainfall during the last one month. Jute farmers in Natore district, who got poor yield due to insufficient rainfall during the cultivation season, are now upset as huge amounts of the harvested crop are getting dried and turning reddish, reports our Natore correspondent Bulbul Ahmed. Jamal Uddin of Bangabaria village under Tebaria union in Natore Sadar upazila cultivated jute on his 200 decimals of land this year and got a poor yield. Now he is facing problem to rot the plants due to lack of water. "As there is scanty water in local water bodies, we have to manage water with shallow machine to rot jute plants. Insufficient rainfall and unplanned construction of several sluice gates in the area has led to the situation," said Nantu Mian, a jute grower of Chaugachhi village under Kafuria union in Sadar upazila. Many other jute growers in the area are facing the same problem. According to local Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), jute was cultivated on 18,500 hectares of land in six upazilas of the district this year while it was cultivated on 19,855 hectares last year. Rahmatullah Sarker, deputy director (DD) of Natore DAE, said they have introduced 'ribbon retting' method to the jute growers for rotting the plants with much less water. But the farmers are hardly following the suggestion for rotting jute using ribbon retting method, said SM Mostafizur Rahman, crops production specialist of DAE office at Natore. Jute growers, on the other hand, said it is not possible to rot jute plants in large scale with ribbon retting system. Besides, the jute sticks cannot be used for purposes other than burning after rotting jute plants using ribbon retting method, they said. Jute offices of different districts informed that a maund (40 kg) of good quality jute is selling from Tk 1200-1400, depending on the quality. Many farmers said just before the beginning of current harvesting season, jute kept at traders' godowns was sold at Tk 1600 but the price drastically fell as soon as the harvesting began. Our Gaibandha Correspondent KM Rezaul Haque reports: Growers in Gaibandha district could not process raw jute by rotting, as pools or marshy lands have dried up due to scanty rainfall during the last one month. Piled up jute stalks on the field are drying up under the open sky. District DAE introduced ribbon retting process for rotting raw jute during last two years for ensuring better quality of jute. The DAE officials meanwhile supplied 1,500 ribbon retting machines among the farmers of Sadar, Gobindaganj, Palashbari, Sadullapur, Sunderganj, Saghata and Fulchhari upazilas in Gaibandha district and provided training to one lakh 50 thousand jute growers in the district for the purpose. The farmers, however, are showing reluctance to use ribbon retting process, Despite water crisis, they are still adopting traditional method of jute rotting, and so, they are not getting expected quality of jute and deprived of its fair prices, DAE officials said. "I have placed jute stalks for rotting in a canal seven days ago, but the water dried up before the rotting completed. If there is no rain within next few days I will have to bear additional cost for carrying the jute to a water body elsewhere," said Atowar Rahman a jute grower of Ghegar Bazar in Sadullapur upazila. It will take some more time to motivate jute growers for using ribbon retting process that will undoubtedly enhance the quality of fibre and ensure its sale for higher prices, said Mir Md Abdur Razzak, deputy director of DAE in Gaibandha.
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