Diversification of jute products stressed

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FE Report Jute Secretary Md Ashraful Mokbul Monday stressed the need for diversifying jute products besides the traditional ones to boost earning from this sector. While addressing an inaugural programme as the chief guest he said: "Bangladesh is a major producer of jute but it has confined itself to only traditional products including yarn, twain, hessian, sack, bag and carpet backing cloths (CBC)." "This is the time to penetrate in the market of high value products. We are emphasising researches for making more value added products to compete in the world market," he said. He was inaugurating a ten-day training on jute products titled "Design and development of fabric-based jute bags" jointly organised by the International Jute Study Group (IJSG) and National Centre for Design and Product Development, India (NCDPD) held at the IJSG conference room in Dhaka. In this training, NCDPD experts would train Bangladeshi entrepreneurs and businesses about many jute products, programme organisers said. The jute secretary said, "Jute pulp has been proved as feasible for meeting large requirement of raw material of paper". "The government will go for producing paper from jute pulp", he added. IJSG Secretary General Bhupendra Singh appreciated participation of women entrepreneurs in the training. He expressed hope that this training would help many of the entrepreneurs to rethink about their business and it would also give them new ideas. Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) Director General Dr Md Kamal Uddin, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) Director Md Abu Sayed and IJSC Operation Officer Dr Latifa Binte Lutfar, among others, were present in the inaugural ceremony. Indian Textile Secretary Ms Rita Menon will attend the concluding session of the training on November 2, the programme organisers said.