Agriculture

Jute is an industrial cash gift grown in Bangladesh. With an average it contributes about 4.59% of country’s total export earnings (Economic Trends, January 2012. Bangladesh Bank). In Bangladesh a couple of species of jute are harvested in two ecosystems- Corchorus capsularis in lowland that may withstand waterlogged condition as well as Corchorus olitorius under upland condition. Two other vegetation, known as allied fiber crops, kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) and mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) also grow in Bangladesh. At present, jute is grown in about 0.50 million hectares which is 2.6% of the total net cropped area. Out of this C.capsularis occupies 20% whereas C.olitorius dominates 80% acreage of land and their productions are 0.96 million bales and 4.37 million bales respectively. The area of kenaf and mesta cultivation in the country is about 15.0 thousand hectares and are mostly used like jute nutritional fiber. Through the statistics of the last forty years it is observed that the area has continuously decreased from 690 thousand hectares to 463.5 thousands of hectares during these decades. Production has also declined from 5,106 thousand bales to 4,943 thousand bales and jute is being forced to the marginal land as a result of expansion of food crop cultivation.

Harvested jute crop

However, yield of the crop has increased from 8.19 to 10.64 bales over the period. It has happened due to dissemination of contemporary technologies including high glorious varieties of jute at farmer’s level. But the average yield obtained from varietal demonstration over the past few years at farmer’s field is 16.50 bales. Mean yield per hectares of the modern varieties of jute at research station together with optimum management is 22.20 bales, which is practically double of the national standard. Lower yield of jute at farmer’s field, is because of various biotic and abiotic, along with social constraints. Among the biotic stresses diseases such as control rot, anthracnose, die-back in addition to leaf mosaic and bugs such as hairy caterpillar, apion, mealy bug and yellowish mite are the major types. Moreover, there exists a huge gap compared to the potential yields of the developed varieties evolved by the researchers.   esearchers.