Jute price problem in colonial north Bengal

Jute was extensively cultivated in India from 19th century. In Colonial regime raw jute and jute manufactures formed one of the main sources of earning for the country. Like other parts of Bengal, North Bengal became an important jute cultivating zone due to agro-climatic condition and as a profitable non-food grain crop. As a profitable cash crop it inspired the peasants to cultivate more and more jute. Jute area thus rapidly increased in North Bengal. Overproduction, intermediary control and some other factors decreased prices of raw jute within a short time. For all these reasons peasants faced an acute price problem from the third decade of the 20th century. In this context the paper makes an attempt to investigate raw jute price problem in colonial North Bengal.