Jute sector in crisis

THE steady closure of one jute mill after another has created a double crisis. With multiple factories shut down in the last two months, number of unemployed workers in the sector has reached around 30,000. The lack of a domestic market and shrinking exports have left millions of jute farmers and businessmen in doldrums. Although jute fared fairly well up to 2011, it has gone into steady decline since then due to a multitude of reasons, including the lack of a coherent government policy to increase utilisation of jute domestically. Interestingly enough, the government declared mandatory use of jute in place of polythene in 2010. That policy has remained largely on paper as environmentally harmful polythene remains in production and widespread use nationwide.
Similarly, little has been done to explore export markets for the biodegradable jute. We will now have to contend with the fact that a lack of coherent policy has landed us in this mess. With farmers yet to recover from losses incurred last year and a new cropping season beginning this month, how a shrunken sector will absorb the current production target of 7 million bales, in addition to last year's unsold 2 million bales is of prime concern. What continues to baffle is that why no steps were taken to counter the loss of exports to two traditional markets, i.e. the Middle East and Thailand, after they hit political turmoil. Jute sector's revival must be prioritized to save estimated 10 million farmers who will be adversely affected if the trend of mill closure is not reversed.