KOLKATA
Amid fears that a bumper crop and last year’s unsold production of jute could impact farmers, the Centre has increased the minimum support price (MSP) to Rs 5,050 per quintal for the standard grade. The Jute Corporation of India (JCI) has decided to purchase the best quality jute for an MSP of Rs 5,750 per quintal and the average variety for Rs 5,050 per quintal. The sector directly provides employment to about 3.70 lakh workers in the country and sustains over 40 lakh farm families.
The Jute Corporation of India has allayed concerns and said that there are adequate orders for raw jute and farmers should not make a panic-sale below the minimum support price. The announced MSP of raw jute for 2023-24 season is in line with the Government’s principle of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times all-India weighted average cost of production.
Dismissing rumours about insufficient Government orders for jute, Moloy Chandan Chakraborty, Jute Commissioner, and other senior officials of the JCI, in a press interaction in Kolkata, highlighted that farmers should not go for panic sale.
Rather, if buyers in the open market attempt to purchase jute below the MSP then this should be brought to the notice of the authorities. The office of the Jute Commissioner, in a notification dated October 5, has said that raw jute cannot be purchased by mills below the declared rate in the notification.
The Union Government declared that MSP rate for the middle grade jute – TD3 – is Rs 5,050 per quintal for the current corp year, July 2023 to June 2024. The rates for the crop year are applicable from July 1. Subsequent to the Government declaration of MSP, the office of the Jute Commissioner announced the MSP rates for other varieties and grades. The Jute Corporation of India is the Central Government nodal agency to undertake price support operations and the losses incurred, if any, in such operations, are fully reimbursed by the Central Government.
The farmers have an option to sell the produce to the buyers in the open market at the MSP, or at a higher rate, but can also avail the option of selling the same to JCI through its 110 purchase centres at MSP. On a given day, a farmer can offer up to 15 quintals of jute to any of the purchase centres, and in a season can sell up to 45 quintals.
During the current financial year, JCI’s procurement of raw jute stands at over 4.25 lakh quintals. In the current crop year, beginning July, this quantity is 3.70 lakh quintals. Besides its own godowns, 40 additional godowns are being utilised for the storage, at present.
Besides Government orders – that consume a major chunk of jute – there’s a huge demand in the unorganised sector, a senior JCI official said. Jute carpets, bag-manufacturing segments, to name a few, form a good demand, he added.