Jute was once the golden fiber in the country’s agricultural-based economy on which the livelihood of rural people relied largely, especially in relation to raw and undiversified produce.
However with the passage of time, the economy of Bangladesh has become dependent on industries. During the period of 1970-71 Bangladesh earned 74 percent of its foreign currency from jute exports, but following the emergence of artificial fiber, the demand for jute started to decline.
Eventually, researchers came up with the alternative use of jute. Keeping the concept of this alternative use of jute in mind, the Jute Diversification Promotion Center was established in 2002 under the Ministry of Textiles and Jute.
The JDPC, located at Monipuri Para, Tejgaon is working to facilitate the production and marketing of versatile jute products. The main objective of this organization is to come up with ideas of various types of jute products and their marketing.
A 20-member steering committee, led by the Secretary of Ministry of Textiles and Jute, acts as the governing body of JDPC. The Ministry of Textiles and Jute regularly monitors the activities of the JDPC.
The organization provides a 14 day-long phase by phase training to the entrepreneurs. Anyone interested to pursue their career in jute diversification can participate in the training programme.
The training programme has been halted due to the pandemic and a large number of entrepreneurs are waiting in queue to attend the training programme after the situation gets back to normal.
The body has created over 700 entrepreneurs from different parts of the country till now. JDPC has seven Jute Entrepreneur Service Centers (JESC) in Dhaka, Narsingdi, Rangpur, Jashore, Chattogram, Tangail and Jamalpur where training services are provided.
At the sales center of JDPC, products of entrepreneurs are displayed. A total of 282 types of diversified jute products can be found here ranging from household, home decor and fashion accessories to office stationery. JDPC organizes a fair almost every month in different districts across the country to promote the diversified use of jute.
This initiative has been obstructed due to the coronavirus pandemic and no fairs could be arranged since last year.
Md Mainul Hoque, Director (PMI) of JDPC told Bangladesh Post that lack of an internal market is one of their crucial concerns. It is very important to let people know about the latest creation of an entrepreneur. Due to the lack of an internal market, entrepreneurs have to struggle for a long time.
Corona has crippled the two great initiatives of JDPC- arranging fairs to acquaint people with the innovative use of jute, and the training programme that creates the entrepreneurs who are contributing in this sector of immense possibilities to a large extent, he added.
The organization had to struggle a lot during the early years to gain its existent position. People are getting conscious across the world and leaning towards natural fiber. Every year Bangladesh exports diversified products of jute worth Tk 1,400 crore.
