Golden Fiber of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) the oldest mono crop research institute of the country, located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. jute research first started in Dhaka with the creation of a fibre expert's position under the Department of Agriculture, and the assumption of responsibility by Sir RS Finlow in 1904. The BJRI in its present form and functions, developed from the first Jute Agricultural Research Laboratory (JARL) established by the Indian Central Jute Committee (ICJC) at Dhaka Farm in 1936.

Bangladesh researchers finally decodes Jute Plant Genome

Bangladeshi researchers have successfully decoded the Jute Plant Genome.
With the successful sequencing of jute genome, Bangladesh has become only the second country after Malaysia, among the developing nations, to achieve such a feat. Researchers from Dhaka University, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and Software Company DataSoft in collaboration with Centre for Chemical Biology University of Science Malaysia and University of Hawaii, USA has decoded the genome.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement of Bangladesh’s scientific adherence in the Parliament on Wednesday.
Dubbing it a ‘historic scientific advancement’, Sheikh Hasina said the discovery would rejuvenate the lost heritage of ‘golden fibre’ as gene mapping of jute would now help breeders develop jute varieties resistant to pests and climate adversities.

As it is, the new bio-tech advance should make it possible the growing of jute plans of vitality with more output and to extend jute cultivation into lands considered as not favourable for the same. At present some 50-60 lakh bales of jute are produced whereas during the Pakistan era some 70 lakh bales used to be produced. Thus, it should be possible to attain the previous level of production and even surpass it because of soaring demand for the natural fiber.
Only from effectively meeting that demand, a great deal of earnings from jute are possible from domestic as well as foreign sources. Unlike the readymade garment industry which imports a large part of is raw materials, jute industry creates value-addition locally at every step from farmers or producers to industry owners. The Government is about to enact law for compulsory use jute as packing material. This would help substantially increase demand locally. International buyers are also showing notably greater interest in jute based products.
Bangladesh can quickly produce and export jute based products such as car parts, special cloth as matting for embankments, upholsteries, jute board, jute plastics and earn foreign currencies. The imperative, first of all, is to increase production and for this purpose the new finding by scientists which has led to better jute plants, the sowing of these plants will have to be popularized extensively throughout the country. Farmers should be motivated to increase the production of jute by ensuring remunerative prices for their produce. The government should extend all kinds of supports to emerging industries in this sector.
Source: Daily Ittefaq, Bangladesh.