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Global forum for jute

The setting up of the International Jute Study Group recently in place of the International Jute Organisation (IJO) for a period of three years, was a very much awaited move. For the last couple of years, the entire jute community has been feeling the need for an international forum where the issues related to production and consumption can be discussed at length. In fact, the last one decade has been very trying for the whole of jute industry which has been finding it difficult to sustain itself against the emergence of much more competitive synthetic fibres. There is need to chalk out a concerted strategy towards promoting jute as a much diversified fibre. In the past, some efforts have been carried out. However, there has been lack of convergence. This time the new organisation has been given a much wider representation as also the scope has been broadened keeping in view the changes taking place in the world market. The group has been accredited to the United Nation’s Common Fund for Commodities and has got representation from both producers and consumers. The entire European Union plus Switzerland from the consumer side and India, Bangladesh and China from the producer side are represented on the group. There is also expectation that Japan, China and Norway would also join from the consumer side with some hopefuls being Egypt, Indonesia and Nepal. The erstwhile IJO had representation exclusively from governments. While in the new body, voting rights and financial responsibility would be that of the governments but the selection and choice of projects, technology, commercialisation and ability to integrate into various other organisations would be influenced by the private sector which will have a legal presence in the form of private sector consultative group. There is also a proposal to invite the industry associations to become association members in the group so that they will have a say in the funding and project-related matters. The group will have to work in a more coordinated fashion taking most of the elements into account. Particularly, in the given situation, there is need to develop a need-based production facility. Ideally product and market developments should go simultaneously. This is more because the market has inclined in the favour of buyers who have plenty of options. In this kind of condition, there is need to promote the positive aspects of jute as a fibre. There is very good scope for jute to be used in non-traditional areas, particularly in the fast emerging non-woven segment. Geo textiles could be the ideal area for jute. Of late, some products have been developed at the research levels, but no concerted efforts have been gone into commecialisation. Moreover, in order to reduce the cost of jute cultivation and add value to the fibre parameters in tandem with the technology, the government should implement the proposed jute technology mission at the earliest.