Millers urge govt to buy raw jute from farmers

FT ONLINE

The country's private jute millers have requested the government to procure raw jute from the farmers to ensure fair price for their produce.

A letter, sent to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute by Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) recently, stated that cultivators are now deprived of fair prices for their produce for lack of a proper jute procurement system.

According to the letter, many farmers are losing their interest to cultivate raw jute. If the government procures the crops, as it procures rice and paddy from the farmers, the jute growers will get fair price for their produce and get the motivation to cultivate raw jute.

Usually the farmers don't have proper capacity to store raw jute. So they are forced to sell their crops at the start of the season at a lower price.

It has been observed that BJMC, BJMA and other concerned authorities, and traders cannot buy raw jute timely for lack of fund, which opens up an opportunity for the middlemen and hoarders to exploit the farmers. Utilising this opportunity, they purchase raw jute at irrational prices, said Abdul Bark Khan, secretary of the BJMC.

"After that they (middlemen and hoarders) sell the goods at a high price to the millers," Khan said, adding that if the market remains competitive, farmers will get right price and millers also can buy the raw materials in an affordable price.