Jute is a fast-growing
seasonal crop. It reaches a height of 1.5 to 4.5 meters in a period of 4 to 5 months. The
average dry stem production of jute ranges from 20-40 ton per hectare, annually. This
contrasts with the production of the fastest growing wood plant which needs at least 10 to
14 years from plantation to harvest, and produces only 8 to 12 ton per hectare annually.
Because the biological efficiency of jute is much higher than that of wood plants, the use
of jute instead of wood to make paper pulp will lower substantially the cost of production
of pulp and paper and save forest resources. (Liu, 2000)
The defoliated jute leaves
have fertilizer value and enriches the soil nutrients. Jute leaves are used as vegetables
and have nutritional as well medicinal values jute sticks
are used for fuel and shelter in jute growing rural areas. This has helped reduce the use
of wood in these applications. For Instance, the total production of jute & kenaf
fibre in the world is 3 million tons. This means that on an average 6 million tons of jute
sticks are available to the rural people for use as firewood etc.
The production flow of jute
agriculture involves: sowing, weeding/thinning, harvesting, defoliation, retting, fibre
extraction, washing and drying. But only a small percentage of the farmers use seed
treatment, fertilizers and herbicides/pesticides, which makes the processes before
harvesting environmentally sound. Processes of jute retting, fibre extraction and washing
have drawn some concerns regarding solid residue and gaseous emissions that arise from
such processes. Complaints about the unpleasant smell during retting are quite common.
However, the pollution of water by retting is transitory in nature, because in a warm
climate the polluted water returns to its normal condition after 30-45 days. The temporary
gaseous emissions and unpleasant smell do not involve any non-reversible hazard as
compared to some other industries. The retting process is being improved using
biotechnology.
Jute products manufacturing
process involve several stages such as batching, softening with batching oil, carding,
drawing, spinning, weaving and finishing. The use of mineral batching oils is being
replaced with for specific use like packaging of Cocoas and Coffee. |
