Once jute glittered in this part of the world where enthusiasm surrounding the golden fibre was so high that students were taught about its glory that spread across the world. It was the main cash crop that used to ensure economic power of the people as well as fetch millions of dollars from exports.
There are now encouraging signs to revive the past glory of the jute against the backdrop of worldwide campaign to combat the effect of pollution and protect bio-diversity. The government is taking some measures to revitalise the sector that still can play a role of economic emancipation of the people and protect the environment.
United Nations organisation (UNO) had declared 2009 as the year of natural fiber. There have been debates and arguments going on between LDCs and developed countries to fight global warming and climate change threatening some of the poorest countries of the world. In order to identify the contemporary condition of jute production and industrial development one must put the issue in perspective.
During the 1960s exports of jute and jute goods were the two most important sources of foreign exchange of Pakistan.
After independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the government pursued a programme of nationalisation of large manufacturing enterprises. As part of this programme it took over all the abandoned jute mills and nationalised those owned by Bangladeshi citizens. The operations of these nationalized mills were put under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC). In the early 80s, some rethinking led to a partial reversal of this policy and over 50 percent of the mills (35 out of 66) under BJMC were privatised. Notwithstanding this change, market forces were still not allowed to guide the operation of the mills and both public and private sector mills remained mired in large financial losses.
During 1990s the government focused again on the jute sector problems through a reconstructing programme in order to create a commercially workable jute industry. In this period, following the suggestions of the World Bank, government was on track to denationalise a number of public sector jute mills. Supported by the World Bank's jute sector adjustment credit (JSAC), the government put this sector into restructuring programme in 1993 to nationalise the cost structure in the jute industry and to introduce mechanism through which financial discipline and accountability could be established. The jute sector reform programme of $ 250 million was the single largest World Bank assisted projected in Bangladesh at that time.
In this context Kamran T Rahman, ex-chairman of BJMC, commented in a article "When the credit agreement was finally signed in Washington we were astonished to find that the private sector would get two-thirds of this predetermined amount but the public sector would get 100% of their book losses. As a result, the private sector mills received 16% of their sales value as interim loss finance and the public sector mills got a minimum of 31% and up to a maximum of 67. Consequently, a very uneven playing field was created in the jute sector through this World Bank assisted project." Jute Sector Reforms got a catastrophic event with the closure of Adamjee jute mills of Bangladesh in 2002. Researcher and columnist A.M.M Shahabuddin, regarded this event as "an indecent burial." Consequently, smuggling raw jute to India increased and the circumstance went downhill while Bangladesh produced just one lack tonnes of Jute per year, while India was producing annually over two million tonnes of raw jute .
Najmul Huq, Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA), pointed out five major drawbacks of Jute sector: unavailability of varieties of jute seed, absenteeism of mechanisation, inconsistent policy on private sector, inadequate R & D facilities at both public and private levels, continued financial crisis in the public sector jute mills and lack of coordination between public and private sector. Sheikh Farook Hossain, President of Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA) commented: "Climate change is responsible for degrading of jute cultivation even as rivers are dying along with golden colour of the fiber is becoming fade."
According to a report of Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association, about 4.0 to 4.2 million bales are required yearly for manufacturing jute products by presently running mills, and on the other hand 1.8 to 2.0 million bales of raw jute are being exported. So, Bangladesh requires 6.0 to 6.5 million bales of raw jute every year while it is producing only 4.5 million bales.
The government has imposed a ban on export of raw jute mainly to ensure adequate availability for the local jute mills, which have been facing a short supply and price hike in the domestic market.
The UN declaration of 2009 as the 'Year of Natural Fiber' was aimed to popularise the use of natural fibers in manufacturing goods and encourage consumers of developed countries to buy the environment-friendly products.
There is an ample scope for raising use of jute and jute goods at the domestic level. Australia and New Zealand are the prospective destinations for the jute products, especially jute shopping bags, as eco-concerns drive demand for biodegradable goods in the global market. Opportunities have been created for higher volume of export this year as some European countries plan to impose ban on the use of polythene bags in 2010. Australia has already announced its plan to restrict use of plastic bags and few other countries have already imposed the ban.
Bangladesh and India have started a long-term project on development of jute-based geotextiles, which will potentially prevent soil erosion and help the roads to last for a longer time.
The writer can be reached at tithi farhana
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