Farmers in Jhenaidah districts are losing interest in cultivating jute due to higher production costs.
They are also facing problem in finding ditches to rot the jute.
According to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), last year jute was cultivated in 24 thousand hectres of land, but this year it has reduced to only 15 thousand.
Farmers said, they became interested to grow the cash crop after the price had gone up in the local market, but for the last two or three years, they are not getting fair prices.
The farmers look for alternative crops as the jute production cost goes up, they said.
Nazir Uddin, a local farmer, said, “It takes Tk 16 to 17 thousand to produce jute in one bigha land and the output is about 10 to 12 maund.”
The price varies between Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,400 per maund and it even doesn’t cover the production cost, he said.
Last year, he cultivated jute in 25 katha land, but this year he reduced it to 16 katha.
Jhenaidah district DAE Deputy Director GM Abdur Rouf said, “The farmers are more interested in growing rice.”
He said bad weather also damages the crop, but we are encouraging the farmers to increase jute production.