Jute is called the golden fiber of Bangladesh, because once upon a time it was the most important cash crop and exporting product of the country. With the passing of time, the golden history of jute has faded a lot. In this post, I will try to tell you everything I know about jute. Please do not miss to see the Video added at the end of this post.
[Jute field Tossa]
[Jute field White]
Background
Jute is one of the most important natural fibers that holds the second position after the cotton in the amount of production. From the ancient time jute is grown in the Indian Sub-continent. During that time jute leaf used only as vegetable and as an herb. Till now India and Bangladesh are the two main countries to produce most of the jute in the world. Besides these two countries jute is also grown in Myanmar, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brazil, and some other countries in the world. Bangladesh (East Bengal) covered 70 to 80% of the world jute market till the year of 1947-48 which fall down to 25% in the year 1975 as other countries in the world increased the production of Jute and the use of artificial fibers.
[A farmer is cutting jute]
Cultivation
There are two kinds of jute: White (Corchorus capsularis) and Tossa (Corchorus olitorius). Jute can be grown in a country where the minimum rainfall is 250 MM from March to May and yearly average rainfall is 1500 MM or more. The soil of this sub-continent is ideal for growing better jute. In Bangladesh, farmers start sowing jute seed from the end of February and may continue till mid of May. White jute can be cultivated in the flooded areas but Tossa cannot. Jute grows everywhere in Bangladesh but Dhaka, Tangail, Jamalpur, Faridpur, Jessore, Sirajgonj, Bogra districts are considered more suitable for growing better quality jute. You need to plough the land very well to grow jute. I saw my father use natural fertilizer (composed of cow dung and leaf) in the jute field before sowing the seeds.
[Women are getting the jute fiber out from the jute sticks]
Process of getting the jute fiber
After sowing the seeds jute takes 4 to 5 months to harvest. Jute fiber is collected by peeling the jute stick. After cutting the jute you need to make bundles. First, you need to make small bundles then make another big bundle with several small bundles. You will understand soon why you need two types of bundles. Then keep the jute bundles under the water for retting. It takes 7 to 12 days for good retting of jute. If you keep the jute under flowing river water for retting the color of the fiber looks very shiny and sells well. But if keep under the pond water then fiber looks little dark. I saw this result when my father grew jute.
[Unwashed jute]
[After wash]
[Washed jute fiber on the way to home to dry]
After the retting, there is two way to collect jute fiber. First method: after the jute retted well then bring the jute bundles up from the water and peel the fiber from the jute stick. In the Video you can see the women peeling the jute and this is the first method. After getting the fiber this way you need to bring them to the water again to wash and make a bundle. In this process, you will get a longer jute stick. In the below photo, you can see the jute sticks under the sun to dry.
[Jute sticks under the sun to dry]
In the second method: you need to beat the lower part of the retted jute so that the jute fiber comes out of the jute stick. Then break the lower part of the jute stick and separate them from the fiber. Then bend lower part of the fiber in your hand push them forward and backward several times so that the upper part of the fiber and stick get separated. Then wash the fiber nicely and make a bundle. Please see the later part of the Video where two elderly persons doing this process.
[Jute drying under the sun]
[Jute drying under the sun]
[Jute drying under the sun]
After getting the washed and clean jute fiber you need to dry them under the sun. During my childhood, I have seen that during the drying of jute rain came and get half dried or full dried jute wet again. Then we kept them again under the sun for another day. Wetting and drying jute fiber, again and again, damage the quality and color of the finished jute fiber which may lead to getting less price in the market. Do you remember, we made small bundles during cutting the jute from the field? Those small bundles still remain until the jute is dried. Then we made another bundle that weighs 5kgs with several small bundles of dried jute. And now they kept safely to sell in bazaar later. Most of the time I saw the buyer came to our house to buy the ready jute. At a present the selling price of jute in my district, Tangail is 2500 Taka per 40 kgs ($1 = 83Taka).
[Baby Cradle made of jute]
Jute goods:
Various kinds of goods can be made of jute. I have used a wallet of jute for many years. It lasted as long as the leather wallet and it was washable also. Other common goods made of jute are gunny bag, mats, canvas, wall cover, upholstery, sacks. Bangladesh’s government has made selected some sectors to use jute bags as mandatory. Villagers use jute mostly as a rope to use in various kinds of household and agricultural works. Baby cradle made of jute is a very common item in the village. Bangladeshi scientists are working round the clock for the diversification of jute goods. As a result, we are getting products made of jute that made of artificial fiber earlier. Jute sticks are mainly used to cook in the village areas. Scientists are working also for the diversified use of jute sticks.
[Bangladesh’ Jute export data. Source: CEIC ]
I like to tag my friends and well-wisher to this post: @Ant_Bad_Yogi @Nyainurjanah @SholaIB @Austinelewex @Erik_van_den_Ham @Tushar18 @Sophia_Cambodia . @HiroyukiTakisawa & @PaulPavlinovich may feel the interest to read this post. Thanks.
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