Favourable weather and higher yields have brought good days back to jute in Sherpur. The district agriculture office says 1,912 hectares were planted against a target of 1,911 and will produce 4,015 tonnes, a crop worth about Tk 40 crore at market prices. With prices higher than last year, more farmers are turning to the fibre.

Harvesting is 90 per cent complete, with average yields of 10 to 12 maunds a bigha. Farmers put the cost of a bigha at Tk 10,000–12,000 and the profit at Tk 15,000–20,000, with jute sticks selling at Tk 80–100 a bundle for extra income. Fields around Sherpur Sadar are busy with cutting, retting, stripping and drying, and trading has picked up in the district's markets, from where local buyers send the fibre on to other districts.

Kader Mia, a grower at Sahabdir Char in Kamarer Char, told BSS the yield was good and disease pressure low this year, and that a fair market price would leave him well ahead. Saidur Rahman of Munshir Char in Charmocharia union said fibre quality was good and timely rain had cut irrigation costs; farmers will grow more if prices cover their costs, he said. Growers are asking the government to watch closely so that syndicates of middlemen cannot push prices down.

Muslima Khanam Nilu, the Sadar upazila agriculture officer, said the district jute office gave about 8,000 farmers 1 kg of seed each under the incentive programme to expand the crop, and that demand at home and abroad is rising as jute's environment-friendly uses multiply. A decade ago the district had far fewer jute growers; rising per-hectare yields have brought more into the crop this year.

Based on BSS's Sherpur report. Source: BSS