Farmers of Pairadanga village of Harinakundu upazila worry about rotting jute plants — FE Photo JHENIDAH, Sept 07: Jute farmers of Jashore, Narail, Jhenidah, Kushtia, Chuadanga and Meherpur are in great trouble as they cannot rot jute plants due to shortage of water.
Farmers in the districts are being forced to rot the item in unsuitable water condition resulting in degradation of colour and quality of the fibre.
Many farmers are also using shallow machines to fill ditches and large holes to rot jute plants. Thus the quality and colour of jute fibre are getting worse.
In many places cultivators have to go to other areas to rot their jute plants which increases production cost.
A good number of farmers said due to shortage of water fibre colour has become low-grade. So they are not getting good prices.
Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), however, suggested the farmers to follow the alternative method of jute rotting - ribbon retting.
Farmers are not accustomed to this method. Besides, it takes more labour while peeling the jute plants.
Jute farmer Bablur Rahman of Ambaria village under Narail Sadar said, "We are digging holes and using shallow machine water to rot jute plants. We are being compelled to use the same ditch again and again to rote jute. So, the colour and quality of fibre is getting worse."
Babur also expressed despair about the jute price they will get as a result of black colour and low quality jute.
This season DAE set a target to bring 161425 hectares of land to cultivate jute. And
Jute was cultivated on 1,45,186 hectares of land in the six districts under Jashore agricultural zone.
Habibur Rahman, a farmer in the village of Ambaria of Sanjeevan Union of Narail Sadar Upazila, said many farmers have planted jute in their area. Due to lack of rain, there is no water in the reservoirs. So they drill holes in the same shallow machine water in the same place. The quality of the water and the color of the jute are black. They do not sell jute and are not getting prices in the market. This time, they fear that they will lose a lot.
In this regard, Mohammad Ali, Additional Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension, said: "The alternative method of jute rotting is ribbon retting. But farmers are not adopting the way commercially as the process is labour-consuming."
Jute plants have grown well in the region but farmers are getting disheartened about jute rotting because of less rain water this year, he added.
Our Magura Correspondent adds: Jute growers in 50 villages of three unions under Mohammadpur upazila in the district are worried over shortage of water in the water bodies to rot their newly-harvested jute plants.
A good number of farmers said they rot their jute plant in a canal. "But we cannot use the canal for rotting jute this year due to shortage of water. The canal needs re-excavation. In this situation over 2,000 farmers are facing uncertainty over rotting jute."
Golapdi Biswas of Razpat village said, "I brought two bighas of land under jute cultivation this season. I have already completed harvest of my produce."
"I am using irrigation water to rot my jute plants. It increases my cost", he further said.
Another farmer Golam Reza said he is thinking to rot his jute plants in the Modhumoti river.
The Water Development Board (WDB) Magura sub-divisional engineer Shafiul Islam said a contactor will start re-excavation work of the canal a month.
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