2000 tonnes jute seeds yield planned

The government is planning to produce 2000 tonnes of quality jute seeds from the next year to largely meet the present 4000 tonnes of market demand.

The Integrated HYV Jute and Jute Production Programme under the Ministry of Jute and Textile has already sent a project proposal to the Ministry of Finance and Planning for fund allocation in this regard, Project Director M Abdul Khaleque told the news agency yesterday.

Presently, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) is supplying 1000 to 1200 tonnes of seeds to market, while the rest of the demand is met by importing substandard seeds from the neighbouring country, he said.

"The high yield of jute largely depends on quality seeds," he said, adding "this is the time to look for increasing jute production as the prices of raw jute and diversified jute products are experiencing an upswing the international market," he said.

Under the new initiative, the ministry intends to produce 2000 tonnes of quality seeds each year for the next five years, starting from next fiscal 2010-11, he said.

For the current fiscal, the project has involved 100 farmers at 100 upazilas across the country to produce 400 tonnes of quality seeds.

"We are planning to select more farmers in more upazilas to produce 2000 tonnes of seeds per year from the next fiscal," he said.

After the production, the growers would sell the seeds to other farmers in their respective areas. "If we could successfully implement the project, the country can be self-sufficient with quality jute seeds," he said.

Concerned officials of BADC said Bangladesh has the potentiality to turn itself into a jute seed exporting country from an importer.

Former executive director of Jute Diversification Promotion Centre Dr ABM Abdullah said it's a very positive step taken by the textiles and jute ministry for fulfilling the demands of quality jute seeds locally.

"Along with the quality seeds, proper water management for retting the jute needs to be ensured as the farmers could produce quality jute and get fair prices of their products," he said.