Jute growers of north Baleswar are reportedly in distress as there are few takers for their produce. Most of the farmers harvested about 80 per cent of their cultivation, but they are literally hopeless being skeptical about the procurement rates.
Jute cultivation is mainly undertaken by farmers of Jaleswar, Bhograi, Baliapal and Basta blocks. Last year, they had sold their produce at between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 per quintal which was procured by a jute mill through the concerned corporation.
Ramanath Giri, a jute grower of village Aakna under Jaleswar block, stated that he had about 80% of cultivation, yet there are no buyers till today and the current market rate is around only Rs 2,500 a quintal. Notably, for jute cultivation, the expenditure per acre is about Rs 15,000 and each acre fetches about seven quintals.
A farmer of Kalikapur, Rabindra Giri, said he along with his two brothers had undertaken cultivation in three acres of land and the expenditure was nearly Rs 45,000. But they are not finding any buyers to sell their produce at an appropriate rate although harvesting was completed two weeks ago. As a result, they have stacked their harvest waiting for buyers with a remunerative rate.
Not only the farmers of Kalika village under Baiganbadia GP the jute farmers of other GPs are also facing a similar situation. The farmers stated that they may resort to distress sale of their produce if the Agriculture Department does not intervene to come to their rescue.