The Hindu Business Line : Jute mills body wants Govt to step up supply of certified seeds

Kolkata, Nov. 9 To overcome the problem of scarcity of certified seeds for jute crops, the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) has urged the Textile Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture to increase procurement of certified seeds and improve the distribution mechanism, according to Mr Sanjay Kajaria, Chairman, IJMA.

The scarcity of certified seeds affects the jute production and leads to lower yield of the crop. Currently, certified seeds account for just about 20-25 per cent of the total seeds used for production of jute crops, Mr Kajaria said.

He added, “There is a shortage of certified seeds at present. Close to 75-80 per cent of seeds available are spurious seeds.” The next crop season would begin in July and the actual requirement for certified seeds could be ascertained only by February next year, he said.

Distribution

IJMA, Mr Kajaria said, has taken the matter up with the Ministry of Textiles and the Union Agriculture Ministry. “The Government has indicated that they will ask the Jute Corporation of India to procure seeds and distribute it through their 171 distribution channels. This will help bring some improvement in the distribution of certified seeds,” he observed.

The use of certified seeds would help farmers increase the production of jute crops by more than 10 per cent, according to Mr S.S. Kanoria, Chairman, Ludlow Jute and Specialities Ltd.

“IJMA has taken up the matter of certified seeds and there is a possibility of increasing the procurement of such seeds for production,” Mr Kanoria told newspersons here on Monday voicing concern over the forthcoming indefinite strike, as announced by the workers of the jute industry. “In 2007, there was an industry-wide strike for almost 63 days and this was followed by another 18 days’ strike in 2008. This year’s proposed strike, if materialises, will pave the way for reintroduction of plastics, upholding the Textile Ministry’s proposal to dilute the mandatory Jute Packaging Materials Act,” he said.

Rs 40-cr cess

The jute industry, Mr Kanoria said, was paying cess amounting to about Rs 40 crore a year for development of the industry.

“More than Rs 500 crore has been paid by the industry over the last few years as cess but the money has not been properly utilised by Jute Manufacturers Development Council.

At least 75 per cent of the money should be assigned for development of raw jute while the rest should be used for modernisation of jute mills in the form of subsidy on interest costs and other incentives,” he observed.

Mr Kanoria also highlighted the need for genetic farming, better seeds and other measures to increase the yield per hectare of raw jute by two-to-three times as it happened in the case of raw cotton with the help of Monsanto Chemicals.