CULTIVATION OF JUTE FIBRE,

             CULTIVATION OF JUTE FIBRE

The jute's crop is grown in those areas in which the atmosphere remains humid for 4- 5 months. The seeds of jute plants are sown in rainy season. It's growth depends upon the rain fall mostly. The sowing time also varies according to situation of monsoon arrival. The different steps to grow the jute plants are given below:

Climate and Soils:

  

The jute plant requires a warm and humid environment. The temperature range between 24° C to 37° C is considered as the most suitable atmospheric temperature.  The excesses rain fall causes heavy danger to the jute crop. The excessive water logging in the jute's field for long time damages the crop. It requires regular rain fall after definite time interval. The new gray alluvial soil ( the mixture of sand and clay left by rivers during flood) of good depth, receiving salt from annual floods, is considered as the best for jute crop. The jute crop is grown widely in sandy loams and clay loams.

Preparation of field:

The field is ploughed many times before sowing the seeds. The field ploughing is carried out after almost one week after first rain fall. If the monsoon gets delayed, the field is irrigated by available irrigation source before field ploughing. The seed's bed gets ready after repeating the drilling, ploughing and levelling many times. The field's soil gets fine and soft completely. Please note the seed bed's soil should be clean and free from lumps. 

Sowing of jute:

The seeds are sown in the field after seed bed preparation. The seed's sowing times varies according to arrival of Manson. The seeds are sown in the field from March to June in various part of the country. Since it is grown in rainy season, it doesn't need extra irrigation. The rain water gets enough to develop the crop. The crop needs to be irritated by available water source, it the monsoon gets below than normal. The organic ferfertilizers like compost of plants leaves is used to improve the proper growth of the crop. The chemical fertilizers like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash are also used.  Insecticides should be used if required. The Interculturing is necessary in the beginning stage of the jute crop. 

Harvesting:

The jute crop gets developed completely in 4 - 5 months. The height of main stem reach to 12 feet and more. The flowers are appeared on the plants now. It is the indication of harvesting  time. The fibre are gotten healthy if the crop is havested early. The plants are cut from ground level. The harvested plants are left in the field for A week till leaves drying. The stems are tied into a bundles. 

The Fibre Extraction:

The jute plant's fibres  lie beneath the bark and   surrounded the woody central part of the stem. To extract the fibres from the stem, the process is carried out in the following stages :

Retting of jute:

The main objective of retting process is to loosen the fibres from wooden part of stalk. In this process, the tied bundles of jute stalks are kept in water pool. The fibres get loosened and separated from the woody stalk due to biodegradation process to be taken place in the water.  The bundles are steeped in water at least 60 cm to 100 cm depth.The retting process gets completed in 8 days to 30 days, when the barks separate out easily from the stick or wood and the fibres are ready for extraction.

Stripping (Fibre Extraction): 

The bundles of stalks are washed properly before stripping of the fibres. The bundles are kept in 1.0 - 1.5 metres deep moving water source for 1 - 2  weeks. The moving water helps to eliminate the dirt and dust present in the bundles. Now these bundles are taken out from water and are left in the field for sun drying.

The stripping of the fibres are carried out manually. The stem is broken at near one end of the stem.  The fibres are stripped . The fibres can be stripped in wet conditions too. The wet condition help to prevent the breakage of the fibres during stripping.

Washing and Drying:

The stripped fibres are washed in clean water.  “The dark colour of fibres is removed by dipping the fibres in tamarind water for 15 to 20 minutes if required. The fibres are washed again with clean water after dark colour removal.  Now the fibres are squeezed properly to remove excess water present in it. The squeezed fibres are left for sun drying for two to three days.  The fibres are hang in the railing made from bamboo.

After squeezing excess water the fibres are hang on bamboo railing for sun drying for 2 days-3 days.

Bales preparation and Packing:

When the fibres get dried completely, the are graded as per required grading system. The fibres are finally packed into bales. The one bale contains approximately 250 piunds weight in it. 

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