Coimbatore: Jute production in the country would fall by 20% this financial year, said Shashi Bhushan Singh, Secretary, National Jute Board, reports The Hindu.
Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore on Thursday, Singh attributed the fall to inclement weather, especially floods in West Bengal and Assam, that have damaged crops and affected cultivation in these two major jute-producing regions.
Singh also highlighted the fact that jute exports, which reached ₹3,000 crore last year, have immense scope to increase further. This year, the export is likely to touch almost ₹3,500 crore and can even go up to ₹4,500 crore per year.
The National Jute Board is also working on a fresh scheme, namely Jute Technology Mission 2.0, and holding discussions with different stakeholders in the industry. Besides, the Board is also funding projects to find new applications for jute. Extraction of ethanol from the jute plants is one such project. According to Singh, the experiments conducted have yielded 495 litres of ethanol from one tonne of jute and a pilot unit is proposed to be set up to try the process. The other project deals with the processing of jute to make composite materials applicable in various industries.
