Jute is the name of the plant as well as fibre crop of international eminence. It is the most important cash crop, industrial raw material and the biggest foreign exchange-earner of Bangladesh.

The bast fibre - jute is obtained from the bark of mainly two cultivated species of the genus Corchorus namely, C. capsularis L. and C. olitorius L of the family Tiliaceae.

The fibre extracted from the plant C.capsularis is commonly known as White or Deshi pat and those from the C. olitorius is known as Tossa or Bagi pat.

From ancient time jute has been cultivated in India more or less as a garden plant. Its leaves were used as vegetable or medicine. The fibre value of the plant came to be known much later and today jute is grown almost solely for its fibres.

Jute is bio-degradable, strong, non-toxic, hygroscopic, less extensible, coarse and cheap fibre. It is a quickly available fibrous biomass. Its production is very high as compared to other biomasses. 98 kg per day per hectare is produced against the 29 kg per day per hectare, in case of forest products.

Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are the major elements of jute fibre. Jute plant produces jute fibre and juute stick in the proportion of 1:2. Cellulose, hemi-cellulose, lignin , protein and some colouring materials are the constituents of jute fibre and sticks.

Jute grows in any tropical climate. However, a hot and humid climate and yet not incessant rainfall is the essential conditions of successful cultivation of jute crop. Temperature ranging from 70°F to 100°F and relative humidity, 70-90%, is favorable for growing jute.

With the exception of rocky and poor sandy soils, all soils are adapted for jute cultivation. Rich loam of coarse, gives the best result.

The stages of jute cultivation till obtaining the fibre crop are described below.

Of the two types of commercial jute, White jute grows on medium low to medium high land and can even stand in water at maturity, whereas, Tossa jute grows on medium high to high land and cannot stand water logging.

In November to December, land preparation starts in the low lands. High or medium high land preparations start from January to February.

Two ploughings and two cross-ploughings with ladderings and hoeings are a sufficient preparation with occasional stirring is essential for aeration and for achieving fine tilth.

Generally, sowing takes place from February to April according to the position and condition of the land, nature of soil and the amount of rainfall. Experimental evidences are that the ideal time of sowing for maximum yield is 15 March to 15 April for Capsularis or White jute and 15 April to 15 May for Olitorius or Tossa jute.

The methods of planting jute normally practiced are broadcasting, line-sowing and even overplatnting unless there is acute scarcity of seeds. By adopting line-sowing method, plant population and accordingly fibre yield can be increased by 25-50% with at least 25% less cost of cultivation. Thus line-sowing method is highly recommended. The method of transplanting of jute is adopted in case of gap filling only.

Jute crop is infested with a large number of weeds. Thus, weeding are required at least 3 times just within a month and a half from the date of sowing.

The usual method of weeding and thinning of broadcast planted crop is done mostly during the first 8 weeks after sowing. There is practice of thinning even at the age of 3 months. Though, the earlier the thinning is done, the better it is for the growth of the rest of the plants.

Best results are obtained when it is done within 3 weeks from sowing.

Surface cultivation or hoeing as well as mulching is adopted for conserving moisture, as it is beneficial for jute cultivation.

For getting a best combination of fibre quality and yield, about 120 days after sowing is found to be the optimum time for harvesting.

After harvesting, the plants are tied into bundles consisting of 50 to 60 plants and left in the field for 4 to 5 days for their leaves to be shed. The leaves are then well shaken off from the bundles. The bundles are carried to retting place and steeped in water in heaps. The heaps are sometimes covered with water hyacinth or tied with log for keeping them immersed under water.
Steeping of the harvested jute plants are done in fairly deep, clean but gently flowing stagnant water.

Retting of jute plants for extraction of fibre is a complex biochemical process, which is one of the vital activities of fibre extraction.

Fibre quality is greatly dependent on the condition of retting. Retting takes place due to the activity of bacteria. In the hot weather i.e. from July to September the retting is finished in 10 to 21 days, according to the age of the plant.

After retting, bundles of retted plants are taken out from water then the fibre is extracted from individual plants or a number of plants at a time by hand. In this process both fibre and stick remain clean and in tact.

Each bundle of fibres extracted from a bundle of stick is washed well by swinging and shaking them in water until all non-fibrous materials are washed away and the fibres are clean.

20 to 30 small bundles of fibres are made into a big bundle and allowed to stay overnight for rinsing the water. Next day the fibres are exposed to sunlight and continued for 2-3 days till the fibers are fairly dry.

Dry jute fibre is then again made bundles of about 4 kg each and thus is made ready for sale.