Govt widens reach of jute packaging law

The government has made packaging of two more products—poultry and fish feed— in jute bags compulsory, a move that has been objected by the feed millers due to risks of quality deterioration.

The Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh had earlier urged the government not to include feeds under mandatory packaging by jute sacks as it would expose the products to moisture, which depreciates the quality.

“It will affect farmers,” said Moshiur Rahman, president of the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh.

The country's feed mills, which cater to the needs of tens of thousands of poultry farms that meet the domestic demand for chicken meat and eggs, produced 56 lakh tonnes of feed in 2017, according to the data from the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council.

The sector also caters to the 1.50 crore fish farmers in the country.

If feed is to be packed in jute sacks, an additional layer of polyethylene would be required to protect them from moisture, Rahman said.

“This will not be good for the environment. At the same time, our costs will increase,” he said, adding that feed mills are using jute bags to package maize, one of the main ingredients for feed.

The feed millers will once again appeal to the government to reconsider the decision, he added.

 The inclusion of poultry and fish feeds to the mandatory jute packaging umbrella comes 1.5 years after 11 agricultural items -- including flour, potato, pulse, onion.

The government started enforcing the mandatory packaging law for commodities from the last quarter of 2015 to protect the interests of the jute growers and mills that remain vulnerable to fluctuations of demand in the global market for the absence of a vibrant domestic market.

Limiting the use of environmentally harmful plastic bags was another motive. The law was framed in 2010 and six commodities including the staple rice, wheat, fertilisers and sugar were brought under it.

The demand for jute bags has increased after the government started enforcing the law, said Md Mahmudul Hassan, chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation.

Asked about the issue of moisture raised by feed millers, he said the use of inner liner will keep feeds free from moisture.

“We have examined in case of sugar and fertilisers and found no problem,” he said, adding that mills would try to use biodegradable liners.

Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) estimates that public and private mills can make 140 crore pieces of jute sacks annually but they are manufacturing 50-55 crore pieces now, said its Secretary Abdul Barik Khan.

“Full compliance is yet to take place,” he said, adding that a section of the traders have started using plastic bags again.

In Bangladesh, about 2 lakh people work in 176 public and private mills, which process two-thirds of the country's annual jute production of 14 lakh tonnes, according to data by the Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association.

Of it, 8.36 lakh tonnes are exported and the rest are consumed locally, according to the association.