Jute Cultivation in South Dinajpur of WB: A Farmer’s Interview

By Sonali Shil

B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons.) Student (1st year)
Palli Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva Bharati
Email: sonalishil10@gmail.com

Dakshin Dinajpur district is situated in the old alluvial agro-climatic zone (best for jute) of West Bengal. Through out the pre-kharif season, jute is cultivated here massively. During the interview session with Shri Shankar Shil, a marginal farmer of South Dinajpur district of West Bengal, he vastly described about his cultivation process. He cultivated jute, JRO-524 (Nabin variety) on his 1 acre of middle altitude land.

Cultivation Process:

Land Preparation:

For preparing the land, at first he irrigated the land until the soil was saturated and became tillable. Then he gave a fine tilth on the land and weeds were thoroughly removed. Organic manure (especially, cow dung @ 20 quintal/acre) and NPK-10:26:26 (50 kg/acre) as basal nutrients were applied.

Seed Sowing & Cultivation Process:

When the land was ready, the seeds were broadcasted all over the land and the land was leveled by a ladder. Weeds were removed after 15 days when the height of the jute plants reached 6 inches. Pesticides (Endosulfan) had been sprayed in low dosage no avert the infestation of primary pests. 5 days later when the height of the plants became 1 foot, Urea @ 40 kg/acre was applied to the land. Urea nourishes the growth and mitigate the hidden hunger of the crop. The plants were cut down from the dense part and thinned. After 35 days second dose of Urea @ 20 kg/acre was applied in the field.

Harvesting of Jute:

When 90 days are fulfilled (90 DAS) he harvested the crop. He did an early harvesting due to the cultivation of his next crop (Paddy), and also early harvesting of crop gives finer Jute fiber of good quality. The plants were cut and kept in the field for shedding of leaves for 2-3 days. After that he brought the jute into the farm pond for Retting and 15 days later he separated the stem fiber form jute stick. He got around 12 quintals of dry jute from his 1 acre of land.

Cost of Cultivation

Cost of Production:

Total Revenue:

The jute fiber is normally sold @ ₹4000/Quintal in market (on an average). Hence the total revenue generated from selling 12 quintals of yield was ₹48000

Total Profit:

Total Profit is calculated by Total revenue – Total cost of production
= ₹48000 – ₹18,000
= ₹30,000
He got profit of ₹30,000 on his 1 acre of land and he was moderately happy for that

Suggestions and Feedback

The author suggested Shri Shankar Shil to apply line sowing method instead of broadcasting method of sowing to generate better yield. The author also briefed him about the Ribbon Retting Technology and proposed him to contact the sources like ADO office or Dakshin Dinajpur Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Majhian for practical learning of this new retting procedure.

In Feedback of the suggestion, he said that line sowing method is more labour consuming and also time taking than broadcasting. Hence, he and all his fellow-farmers generally follow the conventional method of sowing. But he expressed his desire to learn about the Ribbon Retting Technology and assured that he would go to KVK for gathering more information on this.

Version Edited by Team Krishipathshala