Large scale sowing of jute in Pakistan can save $100 million annually on import of this fibre crop from Bangladesh. Pakistan Jute Mills Association (PJMA) has launched an initiative to convince farmers of Punjab for commercial sowing of jute crop in Pakistan with assurance to extend help in shape of free seed, guidance from sowing to retting and buying all the produce. “Pakistan needs only 150,000 acres to meet the requirement of 12 jute mills situated in Pakistan. Nevertheless, at present due to government’s decision of switching over to polypropylene bags instead of jute has forced closure of five mills during last two years.”
This was the crux of speeches delivered at a seminar on ‘sowing of jute in Pakistan’ arranged by Pakistan Jute Mills Association (PJMA) in collaboration with Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Faisalabad and Punjab Agriculture Department.
Agronomy Research Institute, a sister wing of AARI, Director Dr Abdus Sattar speaking on the occasion stressed the need for ensuring profitability to growers to convince them for switching over from their traditional sowing practices to this crop. He also urged the growers to go for sowing of jute to save precious foreign exchange of the country and supporting industry which was providing direct employment to over 4000 people and indirectly supporting over 100,000 families.
Pakistan Jute Mills Association (PJMA) Vice Chairman Mian Meraj Din during his brief speech assured that the association would not only buy whole crop planted by the growers but would also ensure that they would get more price than cotton. He said the association would extend full support from plantation to marketing of their crop and all the technical assistance growers needed to adopt this new technology.
