Participatory Agro-ecological and Socio-economic Analysis of Jute Cultivation in West Bengal

Jute cultivation in India is plagued with diverse socio-economic and technological issues and the area and production has reduced gradually over the period. Therefore the present study was undertaken in North 24 Pargan district of West Bengal with a sample of 150 jute cultivators to understand the major issues, problems and devise future strategies using participatory assessment technique. The secondary data was used to understand and support the primary findings. In jute there was incidence mainly of jute semi looper locally called ghora or ladha poka which caused heavy losses because it attacks the crop at an early stage, other pests in jute were red hairy caterpillar and yellow mite. Stem rot was the most important disease in jute in this village. It is understood from wealth ranking that majority of the Jute growers belonged to poor family (50%) followed by middle class (40%), rich (7%) and very rich (3%) families. The major problems identified by the jute growers were use of low quality seeds (Rank based quotient score-89.58), followed by pre-monsoon water shortage, semi-looper problem, labour shortage etc. The policy makers need to understand these ground problems before devising any strategy for revival of golden era in Jute cultivation.