Farmers in several districts in the country are frustrated by the low price of jute for the past two years as they are not being able to recover even the cost of production by selling the product.
The price of one mound of jute is ranging between Tk 600 and Tk 1,500, depending on the quality, in different districts, whereas the production cost of the same is between Tk 900 and Tk 1200, growers from Jessore, Faridpur and Bogra said.
‘I had to incur huge loss by producing jute’, Niranjan Das of Chandpur Majhiali village under Monirampur upazila of Jessore told New Age correspondent in the district.
He said he had to spend Tk 900 for producing one mound of jute but the price is lower than the production cost.
Ayub Biswas of Rohita village of the same district said he had to spend around Tk 900 to produce each mound of jute, but was forced to sell it for Tk 800 per mound.
Global economic recession and the crisis in the Middleast countries are the two main reasons for the fall in jute price in domestic market, jute officials said.
Fund crisis being faced by the state run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) is another factor for the conitnued low price of jute, as BJMC is not being able to intensify its jute procurement drive to ensure fair price for the farmers, they added.
Deputy director of the Department of Jute, KM Sahidul Islam, said most of the buyers of Bangladeshi jute goods are in the Middleeast countries, such as Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and Libya, and most of them are undergoing political unrest. So they have reduced their import, he noted.
He also said India is one of the main buyers of Bangladeshi raw jute. But Indian government has imposed a 10 per cent tax on jute import from Bangladesh, which had a negative impact on imports, he added.
Belayet Hossain Liton, a farmer of Iswardi village under Nagarkanda upazila of Faridpur, said he had to spend Tk 14,000 to cultivate jute on each bigha of his land. But the market price of jute is around Tk 1,200 per mound, he said, he could not recover the cost.
Jute production per bigha ranges between 8 and 12 mounds. But the production this year had not been satisfactory due to less rainfall.
Md Borhan Uddin Mia, a jute trader of Nagarkanda bazar of the district, said the jute market started this year with the peak price of Tk 2,200 per mound, but fell gradually as the quality of jute was poor due to less rainfall.
Bangladesh Jute Association secretary Abdul Quayyum told New Age that the government should take initiative to explore new markets for jute abroad to revive the domestic market.
Nagenra Nath Chakrawarty, a businessman in Jessore, said farmers had to suffer loss as the price of jute fell to as low as Tk 1,000 per mound from last year’s price of Tk 1,300 per mound.
Abdus Salam of Pairadanga and Mokhlesur Rahman of Mobarakpur village under Jhikargachha in Jessore said the price and production cost of jute is almost the same in the area and they were not being able to recover the costs by selling jute.
Officials at the Department of Agricultural Extension in Faridpur said about 72,000 hectares of land were brought under jute cultivation this year, which is higher than the previous year.
But the quality and colour of the fibre deteriorated leading to fall in prices because of inadequate rainfall, he added.
In Bogra, about 17,500 hectares of land were brought under jute cultivation, which is about 2,600 hectares less than previous year.
Local agriculture officials said the quality of jute was not good this year due to inadequate rainfall. The farmers were not getting good price there, as per mound of jute is being sold for Tk 1,300 to Tk 1,500 this year as against Tk 1,700 to Tk 2,000 last year.
Courtesy of New Age
