Jute

Jute is the most important long vegetable fiber entering world trade and is surpassed in tunnage only by corn.

	To understand the importance of jute as a fiber crop worldwide.
	To become familiar with the climatic and edaphic requirements of jute.
	To learn how jute is utilized around the world.

Jute has been the world's most widely used packaging fiber for 100 years because of its low cost, ease of manufacture, and availability of large, uniform quantities.  However, in recent years, jute has experienced significant competition from woven synthetic fibers and competition from kenaf.

The center of origin for jute is South China.  Jute has been used since ancient times in Africa and Asia to provide a cordage and weaving fiber from the stem and food from the leaves.  The great jute-growing areas of the world lies several degrees north and south of the Tropic of Cancer, latitude 23^o 30' N and between longitudes 86^o and 92^o east.  This region has a high relative humidity (averaging 7084%).  Annual rainfall of 1500 mm+ (60+?), with a mean temperature of 18^o-30^o C (65-90^oF).

Jute can be grown on a number of soil types ranging from clay to sandy loam if they have good fertility and drainage.  Jute planted for fiber production occupies the land for about 4 to 5 months.  This permits a second and sometimes a third crop to be grown on the same land in a single year.  The advantages of multiple cropping jute with food crops in the highly populated areas of India and Bangladesh are obvious.  Jute helps to maintain and possibly improve soil fertility and decease weeds and plant diseases in a rotation.

1. Family - Tiliaceae

2. There are two species from which commercial fiber is obtained:

• Coprchorus capsularis; Corchorus olitorius

1. What is considered to be the primary center of origin for jute differs with species.

2. C. capsularis - Indoburma

3. C. olitorius - Africa

History

1. The use of jute by Asians and Africans for cordage and weaving fiber dates back to ancient times.  In addition to using the stem for fiber, the leaves were used for food.

2. Europeans, looking for a flax substitute, discovered that jute was a better and a less expensive source of fiber.  Raw jute was first exported from India in 1793 to European spinning mills.

3. The first Indian jute spinning mill went into operation in 1854.  This industry grew swiftly.  Over 95% of the world?s jute fiber was produced in India prior to India?s partitioning 1947.

4. Jute was introduced to Brazil in the early 1900's.  Brazil is the only equatorial zone country that successfully grows jute.  It is also the only country in the world that produces two crops of jute per year on the same land.

Area of Production

1. Bangladesh
2. India
3. China
4. Nepal
5. Burma
6. Thailand
7. Indonesia
8. Vietnam
9. Cambodia
10. Taiwan
11. Brazil
12. Peru
 
Jute Area of Production 

1969-1972

1980-1981

 

Country	Area  (1000 ha)	Yield  (Kg/ha)	Production  (1000 mt)	Area  (1000 ha)	Yeild  (Kg/ha)	Production  (1000 mt)
Bangladesh	878	1270	1115	598	1389	830
India	1093	1087	1189	1270	1177	1495
China	218	2534	553	270	4066	1098
Brazil	50	1096	54	66	1054	70
Nepal	55	939	52	46	1000	4
Burma	56	619	35	68	1535	88
Thailand	403	995	401	197	1269	250
Indonesia	6	2100	13	4	2795	12
Peru	4	1600	7	4	1155	4
Vietnam	13	1234	18	15	2000	30

Use and Importance

1. Jute is the second most important natural fiber, surpassed in tonnage by cotton.

2. It has most commonly been used to make gunny-bags for packaging rice, wheat, corn, sugar, spices, other fibers, etc.

3. It is also closely woven into hessian which is used to make sailcloth, tents, hammocks, etc.

4. It is used in the  manufacturing of many other items such as carpet backing and conveyor belts.

5. Other fiber crops such as kenaf and roselle are increasingly being used as substitutes for jute.  They can be grown more successfully in certain areas and are also spinable on jute machinery.  Woven synthetics also threaten jute's use as a packaging material.
 
Botany

1. Jute is an annual shrub that self-pollinates.

 2. The fiber is obtained from the stem phloem tissue.  The fiber of jute is more rigid and coarse than that of cotton or ramie because it contains a good amount of lignin.

3. The plant has several axillary branch buds which are not allowed to develop when growing the crop for fiber.  The main stem needs to grow straight and tall because it is not feasible to extract fiber from plants with branches.  The plants are spaced closely so that branch buds do not develop.

4. If the apical bud is lost (for example: by jute weevil damage), the nearest branch bud can take over.

5. Some true non-branching types of C. capsularis exist which have no vegetative axillary buds.  However, if the apical bud is lost on these, no growth will resume.  The non-branching types tend to have more disease problems than branching types.

Quality and Yield

1. Yield of jute directly correlates to the height of the plant, not the thickness, because thick plants yield a coarse fiber of lower quality.  Ideally, the jute plant should be tall and slender, fast growing and branchless.

2. A good crop should reach a height of 300-360 cm within 100-200 days.

3. The quality of fiber yielded by the two species differs.  C. olitorius tends to be stronger, softer, and more lustrous than Cl capsularis.  The two species also differ in pigmentation.

Environment

1. Soil.

• Clays to sandy loam as long as fertility and drainage is good.
• Optimum pH is 6.4; will tolerate a range of 5.0 - 8.6.

• Best with 1500 mm or more of annual rainfall
• At least 250 mm per month should occur during the months of March, April, and May.

4. Temperature.

• Survives between 17 degrees C and 41.5 degrees C.
• Thrives at 34 degrees C plus or minus 2 degrees C.
• Day length: short day plant

1. Planting.

• Jute can be divided into three classes based on the time of sowing in the northern hemisphere.
• Premonsoon jute: sown in flood-prone lowlands making use of residual moisture, or sown with premonsoon northwestern showers; or sown with irrigation.
• Monsoon jute: sown with early showers when the monsoon is slow
• Winter jute: sown with irrigation where temperatures are not too low for jute

• Broadcast - traditional method of planting
• Row planting - jute is more uniform and yield is greater, but requires more labor and land preparation

• Rows 30 cm apart.
• Seedlings thinned to 7.5cm apart when about 23 cm in height.  This will yield 330,000 - 444,000 plants per hectare

1. Nitrogen promotes growth of the main stem, therefore, it is the most important element for increasing yields.

2. Ca, P, K, and Mg have enhanced yields in some situations.
 

Jute is a very important fiber crop, especially in Asia and Africa.  Jute fits well into a cropping system.  The soil improvement and weed control contributions make jute a good crop to be grown with vegetable and cereal crops.  The problem for jute growers is increasing competition on the world market from other fibers like kenaf and woven synthetic fibers.
 

	Where is the center of origin for jute?
	Where is most jute grown and why?
	How does jute fit in a cropping system?  Why is this important?
	How is jute used by mankind?
	What is happening to jute in the world marketplace?