1Present Address: Directorate of Sorghum Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030, (Andra Pradesh), India
Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, 700 120, West Bengal, India, Email of corresponding author: chapke@sorghum.res.in
Online published on 13 October, 2015.
Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) is an important cash crop of small and marginal farmers of West Bengal. Productivity of jute is low as compared to achievable yield due to several reasons. A constraint analysis was carried out to assess the reasons of low productivity of jute in the state. Majority of the farmers (89%) were facing middlemen in marketing of jute fibre due to lack of appropriate regularized market and grading system (93%), followed by more labour requirement for retting operation of jute (81%) and high wages of labour during peak season (79%). Non-availability of good quality water (42%) and insufficient water bodies for retting (28%) and irrigation were among the other major constraints in jute cultivation. Improved technologies can increase production of jute fibre by about 445 kg ha−1 with an additional income of ` 5570 ha−1. However, the technologies need to be upscaled in other locations and agro-climatic areas of jute for its wider adoption.
Constraints, Fibre yield, Impact assessment, Jute, Participatory rural appraisal
