ON the call of the All India Kisan Council to organise crop-wise movement, a jute growers’ convention was held on August 15 at the West Bengal state Krishak Samity office in Kolkata. A total of 33 delegates from jute-growing states, such as West Bengal, Bihar and Assam, attended the convention. Delegates from Andhra Pradesh could not attend the meet. Madan Ghosh, vice-president of AIKS, presided over the convention, and AIKS state secretary Nripen Choudhoury and general secretary Hannan Mollah attended the convention. Mollah introduced the subject and explained the AIKS decision. Biplab Majumdar placed the jute growers’ report. Sixteen persons took part in the discussion.

Jute and mesta are important cash crops and these are produced mainly in eastern and north-eastern states. In 36 districts of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh mainly produce mesta. It is bio-degradable and used in various purposes, both in urban and rural areas. Jute mills use raw jute to produce packaging bags, carpet, storage materials and many other things. The environmentalist and conscious communities preferred this natural packaging material all over the world. The UNESCO too strongly advised the use of jute materials.

The Parliament of India after long battle passed the Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packaging Commodities) Act, 1987, which mandates 100 per cent compulsory use of jute bag in packaging of rice, wheat and other food grains including sugar. But due to pressure from the synthetic lobby, time and again the government of India liberalised and diluted this Act in this or that pleas. To protect jute cultivation, the government created the National Jute Board and the Jute Corporation of India (JCI) to procure raw jute from farmers at the minimum support price decided by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. The jute commissioner looks after the entire process.

The government placed order for jute bags for packaging of food grains. But the order gradually went down and synthetic bags are increasingly used for packaging and the JPM Act is occasionally violated. As JCI is not procuring raw jute properly, the cultivators are not getting proper price. Due to continuous loss, the jute farmers are shifting from jute to other crops and the land area of jute cultivation has been declining every year. So the production has also been continuously decreasing since 2009-10. As the Bangladesh government is giving subsidy to jute growers, their production increased and they export cheaper raw jute to India which also adding to the woes of our jute farmers. The AIKS demanded a minimum support price of Rs 4,000 per quintal but it was fixed at only Rs 2,700 last year. As average cost of production is increasing due to growing price of all agricultural inputs like fertiliser, seeds, pesticides, transportation, and the MSP is less than cost of production, the farmers are forced to distress sale and facing continuous loss of income. Dishonest and unscrupulous jute mill owners violate agreements with unions and close many mills very year, thus further shrinking the market of raw jute.

Delegates from different states and districts explained their respective difficulties. The increasing cost of production, rising price of inputs, MSP being less than cost of production. Failure of JCI to procure raw jute from farmers, flood and drought, and the government’s apathy to protect the farmers’ interest – all these just intensifying the crisis in jute cultivation and forcing jute growers to stop cultivation or to shift to other crops. After the discussion, Hannan Mollah summed up the delegates’ opinion, and said the Kisan Sabha should take up these issues seriously in all these state. The state committees should contact the jute growers in all those jute growing districts and organise state-level jute growers’ convention and go into details about ground-level situation and formulate local demands on the basis of the suggestions from lower level, and along with national charter of demands, organise strong militant and long term struggle in the block, district and state levels within two months.

A charter of demands was also prepared after discussion in the convention. The demands that should be highlighted among the farmers to organise them are following:

1)       Re-introduction of the Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packaging Commodities) Act, 1987 in its original form. Firm order for 100 per cent use of jute bags for packaging for grains and sugar. Ban synthetic packaging of food grains.

2)       Strengthen JCI, appoint adequate staff and employees for its effective functioning, open more centres at block level in all jute growing states for direct procurement from farmers at MSP. MSP should be decided as per the Swaminathan Commission recommendation. JCI should keep their centre open throughout the year and also purchase from the market.

3)       All nationalised jute mills be re-opened and run in full capacity. Modernise jute industry. The closed mills should be re-opened and jute mill owners should implement all tripartite agreements with workers’ unions. To unearth and check corruption in jute section, CBI enquiry should be ordered.

4)       MSP of TD-5 variety should be as least Rs 4,000 per quintal and accordingly similar rates for TD6 and TD7 fixed and procurement on MSP should be ensured.

5)       In National Jute Board and JCI, members from kisan organisation should be represented and included.

6)        Subsidy should be given to jute farmers and all inputs should be supplied in cheaper rates and bank loan as low interest should be given to farmers, especially small farmers.

7)       Crop insurance should be ensured effectively against crop loss and compensation for crop loss due to natural calamities should be ensured.

8)       All the research institutes working for jute development should work properly and help in development, modernisation and diversification of jute industry.

9)       Central and state governments should take more initiatives to save 35 lakh jute cultivators and two-and-a-half lakh jute workers, and the jute industry.

The AIKS will organise jute growers in all those districts and states and build up strong movement of jute cultivators. (END)