Everything you need to know about jute cultivation, growth and production. Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Jute 2. Origin and History of Jute 3. Geographic Distribution 4. Climate and Soil Required for Cultivation 5. Field Preparation and Sowing Time 6. Manure and Fertilizers 7. Water Management 8. Weed Management 9. Cropping System 10. Harvesting and Yielding 11. Processing 12. Growing Regions.
Contents:
- Introduction to Jute
- Origin and History of Jute
- Geographic Distribution of Jute
- Climate and Soil Required for Jute Cultivation
- Field Preparation and Sowing Time of Jute
- Manure and Fertilizers for Jute Cultivation
- Water Management of Jute
- Weed Management of Jute
- Cropping System of Jute
- Harvesting and Yielding of Jute
- Processing of Jute
- Jute Growing Regions
1. Introduction to Jute:
Jute is a natural, long and soft vegetable fiber with golden and silky shine and hence called ‘The Golden Fiber’. It can be spun into coarse and strong threads. This fabric is also known as hessian and burlap. The very fine threads of jute can be separated out and made into an imitation silk. The golden fabric jute is a plant which yields a fiber used for sacking and cordage. All across the world, jute is one of the most versatile fabric gifted to human being by nature that has several uses in the form of handicrafts.
It is the cheapest and second most important vegetable textile fiber after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability. It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breath ability of fabrics. Jute fibre is 100% bio-degradable and recyclable and thus environmentally friendly. It has a golden bond with the earth. It comes from the earth, it helps the earth and once its life is over it merges back into the earth.
Jute plants have high carbon dioxide (CO2) assimilation rate and it clean the air by consuming large quantities of CO2, which is the main cause of the greenhouse effect. Theoretically, one hectare of jute plants can consume about 15 tons of CO2 from atmosphere and release about 11 tons of oxygen in the 100 days of the jute-growing season. Studies also show that the CO2 assimilation rate of jute is several times higher than that of trees.
Jute can be exemplified as a golden natural fiber with versatile application aspects ranging from low value geo textiles to high value carpet, apparel, composites, upholstery furnishings, decorative color boards, fancy non-wovens for new products and many more. Other advantages of jute include good insulating and antistatic properties, as well as having low thermal conductivity and a moderate moisture regain.
It includes acoustic insulating properties and manufacture with no skin irritations. Jute has the ability to be blended with other fibres, both synthetic and natural, and accepts cellulosic dye classes such as natural, basic, vat, sulfur, reactive, and pigment dyes. While jute is being replaced by relatively cheap synthetic materials in many uses, but jute’s biodegradable nature is suitable for the storage of food materials, where synthetics would be unsuitable.
Due to its unique versatility and long lasting nature, jute is regarded as the ‘Fiber for the Future’, In coming era, variety of mini jute plants and jute mills will be seen engaged in the production of jute and jute blended yarns. These yarns are very light weighted and are used in varied applications like in upholstery, furnishing, garments, bags etc.
India is one of the largest producers of jute in the world. The prime goods woven of jute in India were coarse packaging materials, farmer market bags, grocery bags, shopping bags and floor mats, ropes and twines. It is one of the cheapest and strongest of all natural fibers.
Jute is second only to cotton in world’s production of textile fibers. India, Bangladesh, China and Thailand are the leading producers of Jute. It is also produced in southwest Asia and Brazil. The jute fiber is also known as Pat, kosta, Nalita, Bimli or Mesta (kenaf).
Jute is cultivated for its bast (stem) fibre obtained from 2 cultivated species of Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius. The fibre has great utility in both domestic and industrial uses. It is used for making various types of ropes, rugs, carpets, mats, coarse woolen fabric (druggets), cloth (hessians) and sacks to store food grains. It is also used in making coarse canvas for wrappings, wall covers; its blend gives good blanket and clothing.
Of the various trade goods, sacking constitutes the major utility followed by hessians. C. olitorius and C. capsularis contribute to 78 and 10% of the total fibre sources of the country. The sticks are used as fuel and lighting material, and for making gun powder and charcoal. In paper industry, these are used as raw material for coarse paper and resin cloth. Resin bonded and pressed jute sticks make durable hard boards.
Jute is a natural vegetable fibre under the category of bast fibres like flax, hemp, kenaf and ramie. Since ancient times, it has been traditionally grown in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, which make up of the present day West Bengal of India and plains of Bangladesh.
Jute is an annually renewable plant belonging to the genus Corchorus of the order Tiliacea. Normally, two species viz. Corchorus Olitorious and Corchorus capsularis, commonly known as Tossa and White jute respectively are produced in commercial scale. Another bast fibre crop commonly known as Mesta has two cultivated species-Hibiscus cannabinus and Hibiscus Sabdariffa.
The word jute was first published by Roxburg, the then Superintendent of Botanical Garden, Shibpur, West Bengal in the year 1795, in his letter addressed to the Board of Directors of East India Company. The first jute mill in India was set up in the year 1855 at Rishra, near Kolkata (West Bengal).
After more than 155 years, the jute industry is now challenged by competition from alternative materials, by the recession in the international markets and by low awareness among consumers of the versatile, eco-friendly nature of jute fabric itself. Yet this industry still provides a livelihood to more than 250,000 mill workers and more than 4 million farmers’ families.
2. Origin and History of Jute:
The genus Corchorus has 2 cultivated species. C. olitorius L. is widely cultivated, and has originated from Africa (primary center of origin) with India or Indo-Myanmar region as its secondary center of origin. This species has been reported from Africa, Asia and Northern Australia. The other cultivated species C. capsularis is found in Indo-Myanmar and South China region, but not in Africa and Australia.
It has originated from Indo-Myanmar region including South China. In India, nine species of Corchorus (7 wild and 2 cultivated) have been reported so far. C. capsularis is commonly distributed in north-eastern parts of India, and gradually becomes scarce towards west, whereas C. olitorius is more common in western and north-western India.
3. Geographic Distribution of Jute:
The two main types of jute, white jute (Corchorus capsularis) and dark jute or tossa (Corchorus olitorius) are grown in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, China, south Asian countries and Brazil. India is the largest producer of jute goods in the world, while Bangladesh is the largest cultivator of raw jute. Jute is mainly cultivated in India and Bangladesh. Besides, these two countries it is also grown to some extent in China, Myanmar and Nepal.
Jute cultivation is confined to West Bengal, Eastern Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh where mostly Mesta is grown. Out of these states, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam contribute about 80% of the total production. Again, these three states may be further classified quality-wise in five principal jute growing areas, i.e. South Bengal, Semi-Northern, Assam and Junglee (Purnea region).
In India, the most important jute producing state is West Bengal, contributing more than 75% of India’s total production of 1.69 million tonnes. Other states are Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. There are 76 jute mills in India and nearly 1,37,679 people are employed in these mills. Several thousand other people are engaged in several jute related diversified goods.
4. Climate and Soil Required for Jute Cultivation:
Jute is a crop of humid tropical climates. It thrives well in areas with well distributed rainfall of 2,500 mm spread over vegetative growth period of the crop with no cloudiness. Locations with a mean rainfall of <1,000 mm, incessant rainfall and waterlogging are not suitable for its cultivation. For better growth, a mean maximum and minimum temperature of 34°C and 15°C and a mean relative humidity of 65% is required.
Temperatures below 15°C and above 43°C during growth are not suitable for jute crop. C. olitorius cannot withstand waterlogging, however, C. capsularis can withstand water logging, but its fibre quality is impaired with prolonged water stagnation. At a temperature below 10°C no germination occurs in both the species. C. capsularis can withstand higher temperature at germination (up to 32°C), while C. olitorius is sensitive to such high temperatures.
Jute can be raised on all kinds of soils from clay to sandy loam, but loamy alluvial are best suited. Laterite and gravel soils are not suitable for this crop. The new grey alluvial soils of good depth, receiving silt from the annual floods are the best for jute cultivation. A soil pH of 5.0-7.4 is within the tolerable limit of soil reaction.
Soils with acidic pH (<4.5), effective soil depth <50 cm, electrical conductivity >2 dS/m and exchangeable sodium percentage >15 are not suitable for the crop. The crop is raised successfully on old alluvial soils of Bihar, mild acidic soils of Assam, Orissa, and light alkaline soils of tarai districts of Uttaranchal. It has been observed that clay loam for C. capsularis and sandy loam for C. olitorius are most suitable soil types.
5. Field Preparation and Sowing Time of Jute:
Jute seeds being small require very fine tilth. The land can be prepared by ploughing and cross-harrowing 3-5 times followed by planking. In acidic soils (pH <6.0), incorporation of 1-1.5 t/ha of lime, 30-40 days before sowing is necessary for better crop performance. Soil moisture between 21-45% is considered ideal for proper germination.
C. capsularis sowing starts from late February, whereas that of C. olitorius in early April and continues up to mid-June. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, sowing is done up to mid-July as per the onset of monsoon. In lowlands, February sowing is ideal, as it helps in avoiding waterlogging in early crop growth phases. In mid-lands and uplands, March-April sowing is preferred. For capsularis, March-April and for olitorius April-May is the optimum sowing time.
Broadcast sowing is the most common method. Owing to the small size of seeds, small quantity of seed is required. To ensure even distribution of seed, they are mixed with 3-4 times well powdered soil and broadcast cross-wise.
Immediately after sowing, the soil is harrowed and planked for covering the seeds. In broadcast crop, weeding is difficult and cumbersome owing to uneven distribution of plants. Hence line sowing behind a plough or using seed drill are preferred for ease of inter-culture.
Seed rate varies with method of sowing and species to be grown. For broadcast sowing, 6 and 10 kg seed/ha of olitorius and capsularis are required. Line sowing needs 4 and 6 kg seed/ha only.
The seeds are sown in row 20 cm (olitorius) and 30 cm (capsularis) apart. The plants within the row should be thinned manually at 2 stages. First thinning is done 20 days after sowing (DAS), when the plants are of 5-10 cm. At this stage, plants are thinned to a distance of 5 cm. In second and final thinning 35 DAS, when plants are 12-15 cm height, and are thinned to a distance of 10 cm. Thus the optimum population varies from 3.33 (capsularis) to 5.0 lakh/ha (olitorius).
6. Manure and Fertilizers for Jute Cultivation:
In general, the nutrient requirement of capsularis is more than that of olitorius. In soils with low organic carbon content, application of well decomposed FYM @ 5-10 t/ha, a month prior to crop sowing is recommended.
The leaf falls from the standing crop and also root stubbles left in the soil after harvest results in recycling of handsome amount of nutrients besides organic matter in intensive cropping systems. The recommended doses of fertilizers are 20 to 60 – 20 to 30 – 20 to 50 (olitorius) and 40 to 80 – 40 to 50 – 60 to 80 (capsularis) kg/ha of N-P2O5-K2O respectively.
In heavy soils with low to moderate rainfall, all nutrients are applied as basal. In light soils and high rainfall situations, N is applied in 2 equal splits, ½ basal and ½ top dressing, i.e., preferably after weeding and thinning operations.
Seed inoculation with Azotobacter chroococum and Azospirillum brasilense has been found promising to supplement part of N fertilizer. Foliar application of 20 kg N through urea solution with teepol as sticker at pre- flowering stage is promising. In acidic soils, P gets fixed; hence, their placement is better. K is usually applied as basal, but in leaching prone soils, split application is ideal.
In acid soils and regions with high rainfall, calcium and magnesium deficiency is common. Liming of soil @ 2-5 t/ha, once in 4 years or Dolomite application (40 kg MgO) is found promising as it supplies both calcium and magnesium.
7. Water Management of Jute:
Jute is sensitive to both drought and waterlogging. The crop sown during the months of February-April requires irrigation till the onset of monsoon. At germination and knee-high stages, adequate soil moisture must be ensured by irrigation.
In general, after pre-sowing irrigation, monthly irrigation till onset of monsoon may be necessary. During rainy season, the crop experiences waterlogging that adversely affect fibre quality. Provision of quick drainage in uplands will be beneficial to the crop. However, in lowlands, it may not be feasible.
8. Weed Management of Jute:
The crop suffers from heavy weed infestation in the initial 6-8 weeks after sowing. Two- three hand weedings or mechanical hoeings are required to arrest weed menace. The first 2 manual weedings are combined with thinning operations at 20 and 35 DAS. The third weeding should be done 55-60 DAS. Due to continuous rains, sometimes manual weeding may not be possible.
In such a situation, herbicide integrated with manual weeding is promising. Huchloralin (pre-plant incorporation, 3-7 days before sowing) or pendimethalin (pre-emergence, 1-2 days after sowing) @ 0.75-1.0 kg/ha combined with one hand weeding at 35DAS may effectively control the weeds. Recommended post-emergence herbicides for weed control include MSMA (mono sodium methane arsenate) @ 4-5 kg/ha and dalapon @ 6 kg/ha. They should be applied 20 days after sowing.
9. Cropping System of Jute:
Jute can be intercropped with greengram and groundnut. Greengram is sown in lines 40 cm apart. After 1 month 2 rows jute variety JRO 878 or JRO 7835 are sown in between greengram rows. Groundnut is sown in 60 cm rows in mid-January (in eastern India only) and 2 rows of jute ‘JRO 878’ or ‘JRO 7835’ are sown in between groundnut rows in the end of March. In seed crop of jute, intercropping of urdbean is promising.
The following crop rotations are adopted in jute-growing areas:
Irrigated Areas:
Jute + greengram-paddy-potato Jute-paddy-potato
Jute-paddy-gram Jute-paddy-wheat
Jute-paddy-mustard Jute-paddy-barley
Cowpea-jute-potato Jute-paddy-berseem
Rainfed Areas:
Jute-paddy-pulses Jute-gram
Jute-paddy-mustard Jute-mustard
Jute-paddy Jute-wheat.
10. Harvesting and Yielding of Jute:
Jute crop may be harvested for fibre purpose at any time before flowering between 120-150 days after sowing. Early harvesting gives finer fibre of good quality, whereas late harvesting gives a larger yield but a coarser fibre. The ideal stage of harvest is when the plants are in small pod stage, viz., 135-140 days after sowing. The other consideration for early harvesting is to a accommodate paddy transplanting.
Harvesting is done by cutting the plants close to the ground level with sharp sickles. The harvested plants are tied into separate bundles of 18-20 cm diameter and left standing in the field for 2-3days for shedding of leaves. The apical portion of the plants may be also severed and left in the field.
Yields:
The national average is 1.3 tonnes of fibre/ha. However, with improved package of practices, it is possible to get 2.0-2.5 tonnes of fibre yield/ha from improved varieties. If the seed is produced, it may yields about 0.4-0.5 tonnes (capsularis-white jute) and 0.25-0.30 tonnes/ha (olitorius-tossa jute).
100 yards of hessian = 54 lbs of raw jute
4148 yards of hessian = 1 tonne raw jute (5.55 bales raw jute)
1 tonne of sacking =1.11 tonne of raw jute (6.17 bales of raw jute)
1 tonne of hessian, sacking etc. =1.05 tonnes raw jute (5.85 bales of raw jute).
11. Processing of Jute:
The jute plant’s fibres lie beneath the bark and surrounded the woody central part of the stem.
To extract the fibres from the stem, the process is carried out in the following stages:
Retting is a process in which the tied bundles of jute stalks are taken to the tank by which fibres get loosened and separated from the woody stalk. The bundles are steeped in water at least 60 cm to 100 cm depth. The retting process is completed in 8 to 30 days, when the barks separate out easily from the stick or wood and the fibres are ready for extraction. A development in recent years is adoption of ribbon retting technology in jute growing trade of the country.
ii. Stripping (Fibre Extraction):
Stripping is the process of removing the fibres from the stalk after the completion of retting.
Fibres are removed from the stalk by any one of the following methods:
(i) Single plants are taken and their fibers are taken off.
(ii) Taken off a handful of stalks, breaking it in a to and fro motion in water.
(iii) Washing the stalks first by standing in waist deep water and then stripping afterwards.
When there is a plenty of water, bundles of stalks are laid in the pond ditches or slow moving streams and left for 5-15 days under water. The bunch of stem is held in one hand and the root end tapped lightly with a mallet. After loosens the rest of fibres, fibres are extracted and washed.
iii. Washing and Drying:
Extracted fibres are washed in clean water. The dark colour of fibres can be removed by dipping them in tamarind water for 15 to 20 minutes and again washed in clean water. After squeezing excess water the fibres are hang on bamboo railing for sun drying for 2-3 days.
iv. Bailing and Packing:
The jute fibre is graded into tops, middles, B, C and X- bottoms. Packing into Kutcha bales about 250 pounds for use in the home trade, they are transported to jute market or direct to jute mills.
v. Selection or Batching:
The word ‘selection’ means segregation of jute fibre according to quality and formulation of batch mix for different end products with reference to availability, cost and processing convenience. The selection process followed in the mill is subjective in nature.
vi. Softening:
In this process, the jute reeds are passed through a series of spirally fluted heavy rollers and are simultaneously subjected to an oil-water emulsion application with an objective to soften the rigid jute fibres as well as the fibre joints in the meshy jute reeds (strands of fibre) and also to clean the fibres from loosely adhered extraneous matter.
Then emulsion added jute reeds are piled under a cover for 1 – 3 days, softening of the jute reeds take place due to some biological phenomenon. This process is known as ‘piling’. Softening is carried out by Softener machine or Spreader machine, the latter being more economical due to lower man-power requirement.
vii. Carding:
Jute carding is a critical processing stage. The breaker card is considered to be the heart of the jute processing system. The generation of spinnable fibres from long meshy jute reeds starts at this stage.
This process changes the input material into sliver (tapes/ribbons) of desired linear density composed of fragments of original mesh after transverse breaking and longitudinal splitting of the jute reeds. This process is generally done in two stages, Breaker and Finisher Card, with occasional Inter Carding done in case of very coarse fibres used for sacking variety.
a. Breaker Card:
After piling, the hard barky root portions of jute reeds are cut and their soft and pliable portions are manually fed to a card, called the Breaker Card, since it breaks the meshy structure of jute to generate individual filaments.
b. Finisher Card:
For the sake of satisfactory spinning performance and producing yarn of acceptable quality, another carding operation with the help of more denser and finer pins as compared to those of breaker card is felt necessary to split further the fibres longitudinally into finer elements.
Drawing:
By the process of drawing, the card slivers are made more thin with improved parallelization and thereby more suitable for spinning. Thinning (attenuation) of sliver and improvement of fibre parallelization are progressively done with the help of 2 or 3 drawing passages.
Spinning:
In the spinning frame, the sliver delivered from the last (finisher) drawing frame is further elongated by drafting to the specified linear density of the final yarn and is finally twisted to form the yarn. Each of the jute spinning frame has 3 simultaneous and essential functions namely drafting, twisting and winding. Generally flyer spinning frames are used for spinning of jute yarn.
Winding:
One of the main objectives of winding is to remove faulty places in the yarn like large thick places and slubs to assure better performance of the yarns during post – winding operations like weaving. Winding of warp and weft are done separately in spool winding and cop winding machine respectively.
Beaming:
The warp yarn packages (or spools), are placed in the creel of the beaming machine which delivers the warp beam or better known as the weaver’s beam.
Weaving:
It is basically the process of interlacement of the warp and the weft and is carried out in the loom for fabric manufacturing. The looms used in the jute industry for producing conventional products are shuttle looms, though shuttle-less looms are also used for producing finer fabrics for value added products.
Finishing:
It consists of a sequence of steps to convert the ex-loom fabric into final sellable product.
The processes along with their brief function is given below:
Damping/Unwinding – Unwinding of cloth rolls and moistening prior to calendaring operation.
Calendaring – Flattening of the constituent threads of the cloth mechanically to produce better cover and surface finish.
Lapping (used for hessian only) – Folding of the fabric into desired length to make is suitable for packing.
Cutting (used for sacking only) – The cloth is cut by rotary or guillotine type cutting machine for manufacturing bags of pre-fixed lengths.
Sewing (used for sacking only) – It involves sewing the cut length of the sacking fabric to produce a sack (bag) of desired dimension. Stitching of the raw edges of the bag is called hemming and stitching at the sides is done by Herakle machine.
Safety stitching – This type of stitching is provided additionally during bag manufacture, to provide additional safety against seam failure.
Branding – Bags are branded manually by screen printing method.
Bundling (used for sacking only) – Bundles of 25 bags are made prior to baling.
Retting is an aerobic and anaerobic microbiological process by which the fibres in the bark get loosened and separated from the woody stalk. There are 2 processes of retting of jute. The bundles are kept in 30 cm deep water, and later placed side by side in retting water, usually in 2-3 layers and tied together.
They are covered with water-hyacinth or any other weed that does not release tannin and iron. The float is then weighed down with seasoned logs or with concrete blocks or are kept emerged (at least 10 cm below the surface of water) with bamboo-crating.
Clods of earth used as a covering material or as weighing agent produce dark (Shyamla) fibre of low value. Retting is best done in shallow canal with slow running clean water. The optimum temperature is around 34°C. If fibre comes out easily from the wood on pressure from the thumb and fingers, retting is considered complete.
The fibre, extracted separately from each reed (stem) with fingers is sleek, clean and free from entanglement. By the beat-break-jerk method, 10-12 reeds are taken at a time, their stiffer root-ends are beaten with a mallet to loosen the fibre. The bundle is then broken in the middle and the fibre is loosened. By gripping this loosened fibre in the middle, the broken bundle is jerked in water so that the sticks slip off.
The fibre is then washed in clean water, rung and eventually spread to dry, preferably in shade or mild sun. The second method often leaves the broken sticks and make fibre somewhat entangled resulting in sticky fibre. The extraction of fibre from the green stem with a machine followed by a short period retting has also proved to be successful.
The places of origin, i.e. Mokam was the basic guiding factor in the old system of grading, whereas in the new grading system introduced by BIS in 1975, six characteristics viz. strength, defects, root content, color, fineness and bulk density have been considered for grading Tossa and White jute. The raw jute have been classified into eight grades (08), starting from TD1/W1 (most superior) to TD8/W8 (most inferior). Mesta on the other hand has been classified into six grades (M1 to M6).
12. Jute Growing Regions:
Jute growing areas in India may be divided into the following 8 agro-climatic zones:
(a) Lower Bengal (The Ganga Riverine Tract):
This is primarily C. olitorius raising tract with JRO 632 as a standard variety. This tract includes 24 Pargana, Hoogly, Nadia and Murshidabad districts.
(b) Malda, Dinajpur:
Both species of jute (C. olitorius and C. capsularis) are raised in this tract comprising Malda and West Dinajpur districts.
(c) North Bengal and Brahmaputra Valley New Alluvium:
This tract is spread into Cooch-Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of West Bengal, and Golpara, Kamrup, Nowgoan districts of Assam. This is mainly C. capsularis raising tract with JRC 321 in low lying areas, and JRC 212 in rest of the areas. On uplands, C. olitorius variety JRO 632 is also raised.
(d) Tripura, Cachora Area of Old Alluvium:
This tract is very small, but productivity is very high. C. capsularis is mainly grown in this tract.
(e) Kosi Area – Purnea and Saharsa:
Purnea and Saharsa are important jute raising districts of Bihar. This is a C. capsularis raising tract but C. olitorius is also raised on a very small area.
(f) Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga Area:
This is a C. capsularis growing tract.
(g) West Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh:
This tract includes Champaran district of Bihar, and Bahraich, Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri districts of Uttar Pradesh. This is C. capsularis raising tract.
(h) Cuttack-Balasore Area:
This tract includes Cuttack, Balasore, Sambalpur and Puri districts of Orissa. This is mainly C. capsularis raising tract, but C. olitorius is also cultivated under upland conditions.