Jute Clearly Regaining Importance (in Bangladesh)

With the worldwide demotion of synthetics -- now known to be a proven environmental and health hazard -- both traditional jute goods and other diversifed items have happily been showing a growing trend everywhere. The Agriculture Minister is also clearly alive to the potential of the golden fibre, as evident in her recent decision to import high quality seed to strengthen the sector. It may be mentioned here that a decade or so after the Adamjee Jute Mills were shut down, the lives and livelihoods of farmers of this versatile hemp plant suffered considerable disruption. But small scale private entrepreneurs in sixteen northern districts of Bangladesh went on record for resisting despondency and salvaging ten to twenty of the still-usable looms from the defunct mills and setting up business against all odds. Today, more than twenty of them are said to be humming and giving jute farmers a fillip. 

Bangladesh's classic cash crop is clearly regaining its old importance and now looks like drawing a number of big players as well which, it is hoped, would not drive the small entrepreneurs out. This otherwise 'obvious' economic effect must be guarded against in a country like Bangladesh where Shumacher's 'small is beautiful' philosophy is not likely to lose its relevance for a long time to come. Modest enterprises do deserve to be treated with positive bias, because the cost-benefit yields from these---in terms of the human economy and ecology---are certainly greater compared to those from unwieldy enterprises. The moral principle, for a poor over-populated country, should be to permit people of all walks of life to manage a decent living. 

Some jute entrepreneurs complain that policy makers' words and the reality on the ground do not always tally. Although this legendary golden fibre has immense potential---paper pulp from green jute and yarn for household linen, upholstery and even clothing, not to forget existing items like carpets, rugs, twine and sacking---the government seems too tardy on exploiting all the potential. Jute goods exporters also claim there is no valid reason why the sector should ever be sick at all as international demand for jute products is often found to be greater than the volume the mills here can deliver (which is less than their capacity). 

Many entrepreneurs who have proved modestly successful in developing new products that are commercially viable have also been found faulting the government for not being encouraging enough. Jute floor coverings, for example, have won selected markets on account of the fibre's biodegradable as well as fire-retardant qualities. Yet policy-makers have been permitting the unimpeded import of synthetic floor coverings, and have also been taking a number of negative decisions that seemed to be designed to throttle the sector rather than revamp it. This must be rectified.

Serious efforts at research and development, linked to commercially viable projects, are also called for. Diversified products like hand-braided rugs, modeled on the specifications of guaranteed foreign buyers, have been a great success and could be replicated if buyers can be located prior to production. Clues for items that cater to current taste in the developed world -- which India and China have been tapping -- are not hard to come by. Manageable, market-oriented enterprises, that really mean to do honest business, and enhance the lives of the masses, should be getting as much government support as possible for 'small' should never cease to be beautiful if the majority are to be included in Bangladesh.


Source: The Financial Express

Note the definition of jute below from wikipedia. Jute is not hemp but a similar fiber crop and the uses of jute are similar to that of hemp.

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae.

Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibres and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses of vegetable fibers. Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose (major component of plant fibre) and lignin (major components of wood fibre). It is thus a ligno-cellulosic fibre that is partially a textile fibre and partially wood. It falls into the bast fibre category (fibre collected from bast or skin of the plant) along with kenaf, industrial hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc. The industrial term for jute fibre is raw jute. The fibres are off-white to brown, and 1–4 metres (3–12 feet) long.

Jute fibre is often called hessian; jute fabrics are also called hessian cloth and jute sacks are called gunny bags in some European countries. The fabric made from jute is popularly known as burlap in North America.