Jute I-CARE

(Jute: Improved Cultivation and Advanced Retting Exercise)

A programme initiated by National Jute Board in association with Central Research Institute of Jute & Allied Fibres & The Jute Corporation of India Ltd.

Background and Justification of the Project Jute- ICARE:

Jute occupies a unique position as an eco-friendly, biodegradable and renewable natural fibre with a huge domestic market and export potential. The production of raw jute including mesta is approx 13.50 lakh tonnes covering an area of approx 7.32 lakh hectare in which about 4 million farmer families are involved.

Traditional cultivation practice of jute farmers results in largely low grade fibre because of non-scientific cultivation practice affecting plant growth and imperfect retting due to non-availability of suitable retting facilities and scarcity of water. Modern agronomic practices with quality inputs in three areas namely availability of certified jute seeds sowing, weeding, fibre extraction (retting) are essential for increasing production as well as improvement quality fibre. It has been established that line sowing of jute using seed drill instead of broadcasting increases yield by 10-15%, requires less labour for weeding and thinning, better management of crop for faster growth and facilitates other post-sowing operations. Weed management in jute by wheel hoeing/nail weeder instead of hand weeding plays an important role in increasing the profitability from jute farming by reducing the cost of weeding which is about 35% of total cultivation cost.

Among the various factors that influence the fibre quality are use of certified jute seeds and retting have been identified to be the most significant in influencing quality fibre.

There is need for concerted efforts to reduce the costs of jute growing while improving the productivity and fibre quality for better price realization and value addition.

Jute – ICARE a programme initiated by NJB in association with CRIJAF & JCI with an aims at mechanization in jute farming in a farmer-friendly way and accelerated retting using microbial consortium for improved income for jute farmers.

Objective :

The objective of the project is to support the small and marginal jute growers with adequate pre and post harvesting operations so that they can grow good quality jute & receive higher price for their produce. The continuation of the project will also make the growers aware about the latest technologies in the country.

To institutionalize the use of scientific agronomic techniques and practices, which would be imparted to the jute growers, the following inputs shall be provided :

100% Certified Seeds at subsidized rate.
Demonstration of scientific jute cultivation practices for adoption at farmers’ field with mechanical intervention using seed drill, Cycle Weeder.
Demonstration of Microbial retting using CRIJAF SONA, a microbial consortium.

Components: Line sowing using seed drill.

a) Line sowing using seed drill.

b) Use of certified jute seed for better results

c) Weeding using Cycle Weeder.

d) Personal contact with farmers through SMS informing timely information of cultivation and other practices.

e) Implementation of protocol for scientific cultivation of jute for cost reduction.

f) Application of CRIJAF SONA in traditional retting for improvement of quality of fibre.

Target of the Project :

The targets of the project proposed to be achieved at the end of the project are:

a) Production improvement of jute by at least 5% from current production
b) Grade improvement of jute by at least one grade.
c) Cost reduction in cultivation by Rs.8,000/- to 10,000/- per hectare including labour saving.
d)Indicative increase in farmer’s income by approximately Rs. 7000/- per hectare due to production and quality improvement.

Activities :
a) Selection of jute growers: Selection of jute growers and their field locations.
b) Training of farmers: Farmers’ training prior to seed distribution (training should start 15-20 days before seed distribution) to make them conversant of better agronomic practices.
c) Land preparation: Land preparation at selected fields by deep ploughing manually or by tractor followed by laddering and leveling of land for making seed beds.
d) SMS: NJB will send SMS to all registered farmers starting from certified seeds, land preparation, sowing, de-weeding, plant protection, retting etc. to educate the growers. CRIJAF will help for preparation of data for SMS. Also IVRS may be implemented.
e) Distribution of certified jute seeds: 100% Certified jute seed (JRO 524/204) will be distributed to the growers at 50% of market price. This would ensure better quality of plants.
f) Distribution of sowing equipments:
i) Multi Row Seed Drill : Line sowing by multi row seed drill is an improved practice of sowing in which requirement of seeds is half or even less than that required for conventional broadcasting practice of sowing jute seed. Row to row spacing in line sowing is maintained at 25-30 cm. while plant to plant spacing is 5-7 cm. This reduces labour cost for thinning and weeding in comparison to that for conventional broadcasting in sowing and gives better yield of fibre.
ii) Cycle Weeder: Jute cultivation in rainy season is prone to heavy weed growth. The operation-wise cost is about 35% on manual weeding and thinning. Weed management in jute by Cycle weeder in inter-rows controls the weeds, conserve soil moisture, enhance soil aeration particularly in heavy textured soil and reduces the labour cost significantly.

Distribution of CRIJAF SONA: For optimisation of retting protocol a microbial consortium developed by CRIJAF and named as ‘SONA’ will be distributed to farmers. Orientation programme will also be arranged for farmers on use of the microbes and getting best result out of it.
Training of farmers on use of CRIJAF SONA for retting: CRIJAF will carry out the training at fixed places and also develop lead users who would transmit the usage protocol to further areas so as reach all the farmers concerned.
Quality evaluation of jute fibers obtained from conventional retting as well as retting with CRIJAF SONA for comparison by research institutes. Jute ICARE-II Project – 2015 onwards : Based on the experience success and overwhelming response of farmers it was decided to expand the coverage of area and further intensify the implementation of the various inputs for the scheme for 2016 onwards. The physical progress for the last five years are given below :

The details of physical progress of Jute-ICARE Phase – I to Phase – IX are given below

Sl. No.	Particulars	ICARE-I (2015-16)	ICARE-II (2016-17)	ICARE-III (2017-18)	ICARE-IV (2018-19)	ICARE-V (2019-20)	ICARE-VI (2020-21)	ICARE-VII (2021-22)	ICARE-VIII (2022-23)	ICARE-IX (2023-24)
1	No. of Jute growing block / state covered	4 Blocks under W.B & Assam	14 Blocks under W.B, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, A.P & Meghalaya	30 Blocks under W.B, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, A.P & Meghalaya	69 Blocks under W.B, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, A.P & Meghalaya	72 blocks under W.B, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, A.P and Meghalaya	130 blocks under WB, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya, AP & Tripura	140 blocks under WB, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya, AP & Tripura	212 blocks under WB, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya, AP & Tripura	246 blocks under WB, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya, AP & Tripura
2	Land covered (Ha)	12331	26264	70628	98897	106934	110893	125000	163757	191272.46
3	No. of farmers covered	21548	41616	102372	193070	243549	258324	300000	364862	435214
4	Certified Jute seed provided (in MT) JRO-204 & JBO-2003H variety	64 MT	160 MT	500 MT	755 new variety JRO-204 589 M.T and JBO2003H 166 M.T. certified seeds by NSC)	535 MT	604 MT	35MT	JBO2003H=141.266 MT & CO58=52.27 MT TOTAL=193.536 MT	Certified Jute seed provided (CO-58/JBO-2003H/JRO-204 / JROM-1/JBO-1/JRC-532) variety in (MT)=442.598
5	Seed drill machine	350 Nos.	350 (old) + 350 (new)= 700	700 (old) + 500 (new)= 1200	1200 (old) + 750 (new) =1950	1950 (old) + 600 (new) = 2550	2550 (old) + 600 (new)=3150	3150 (old) + 1000 (new)= 4150	4150(old)+800(new)=4950	4950(old)+800(new)=5750
6	Nail Weeder machine	500 Nos.	500 (old) + 200 (new)= 700	700 (old) + 500 (new)= 1200	1200 (old) + 750 (new) =1950	1950 (old) + 900 (new)= 2850	2850 (old) + 900 (new)=3750	3750 (old) + 1200 (new)= 4950	4950(old)+800(new)=5750	5750(old)+800(new)=6550
7	CRIJAF SONA (MT)	83	273	206	610	612 MT	500 MT	600 MT	598.545 MT	600 MT (Distribution is ongoing)
8	NINFET SATHI	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	50 MT	100 MT (Distribution is ongoing)
9	SMS sent to each registered farmers	46 sets of SMS	52 sets of SMS	55 sets of SMS	60 sets of SMS	75 sets of SMS	Advisory issued by CRIJAF distributed to the farmers	Advisory issued by CRIJAF distributed to the farmers
10	Number of Awareness Camp	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	263 Nos	280 Nos
11	Sowing & Retting demo	50 Nos.	132 Nos.	200 Nos.	400 Nos.	500 Nos.	300 Nos.	500 Nos	2269 Nos	2485 (is on going)
12	Young Professional (Master Trainer) Engagement	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	59	49	65	72	91	105
13	Crop Survilance through Bhuban Jump App (in collaboration with ISRO) (fig. in no. of field locations)	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	DATA DOES NOT TRACK	4354	21744
14	Mask Distribution to Farmers								288846
15	Crop Cutting Experiment (fig. in numbers)								314	718

Due to the concerted efforts made in the implementation of the project for scientific practice the following feedback has been received –
i. Quality of jute fibre is found to be better than normal retting
ii. Retting time reduced from 18-22 days to 12-14 days with about 10% higher fibre recovery.
iii. Yield per hectare raises from 23/24 quintals per hectare to 29/30 quintal per hectare due to uses of certified jute seeds, line sowing and retting by CRIJAF SONA.

Monthly Status of Jute I-CARE

As on May 2024