Economic Determinants Of Jute Production In India And Pakistan

Most of the world’s jute is produced within the predominantly rice-growing areas of India and Pakistan. Rice is grown as the staple food crop, while jute is the principal cash crop of the farmers of the jute belt. In Pakistan, acreage under jute normally accounts for 6 per cent of the total sown area in the jute growing districts, while rice acreage extends to more than 80 per cent of the total. In the jute-growing districts of the Indian Union, although the proportion of the total sown land under rice is lower than in East Pakistan, rice acreage is normally 15 to 20 times as extensive as the total jute acreage. The scope for variation in jute cultivation is, therefore, potentially large in both India and Pakistan.