Editorial
Moribund jute sector
Robust govt. action needed to save it
At a time when the demand for jute and jute products worldwide is on the rise, the public sector jute mills in Bangladesh are facing the grim prospect of shutting down altogether. The matter takes even greater poignancy jute industry in Bangladesh is at the point of severe regression, if not extinction, when the UN has declared 2009 as the International Year of Fibre.
Reportedly, the BJMC has no fund to buy raw jute from the farmers -- it appears that it has not been able to move the finance ministry to allocate the required amount for purchase from farmers, and the farmers and jute traders have decided not to sell to BJMC on credit any more. Only 15 of the 77 jute mills in the country are now with the government while 48 have been privatised and the remaining have been either closed or leased out.
If the government jute mills are closed down due to lack of fund it is not only the 60,000 workers that will face economic uncertainty, should the imponderable situation come to pass, fewer and fewer farmers will find any motivation to grow jute in future. Even if the private and leased out mills buy up their full requirement of raw jute more than one million bales of jute will remain surplus. One hopes that the relevant authorities are alert enough to comprehend the situation
It is ludicrous that the BJMC boss is moving from pillar to post to get the money now when one would have expected the government to have already allocated the required amount for the purchase well before the start of the jute season.
The development does not augur well for our economy at all. Once the golden fibre that fetched the major part of the country's foreign exchange, it has suffered gravely due to poor planning and neglect by our policy makers. The main cash crop had to face great challenge from synthetic products in the 70s and 80s, and the country's near monopoly of international market of raw jute and jute goods for a long time was lost.
Interestingly, there has been a renewed demand internationally with requirement of environment friendly fibre on the rise again. We must seize upon the fact that we are capable of growing 80 percent of the world's best quality jute. Government intervention is needed -- in the immediate term to save the moribund factories -- and for the long run to recoup the lost international market and add more to it.
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