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It was difficult for Anowar Hussain to hold back the tears and he cannot decide what to do when he looked at his jute cultivation field left ravaged by monsoon flood. Floodwaters destroyed standing jute crops grown on his entire five bigha of land (around 7 bigha constitute a hectare) in Koyakuchi in Barpeta district in Assam. He, however, is not alone. All the jute growers in the area, in fact, are at a loss.
Barpeta district has a rich tradition of growing jute. The district also supplies jute to other places of the state. Till recently, most of the cultivators in Koyakuchi used to grow this cash crop, which they have been growing from generation to generations. However, due to change in weather conditions that lead to excessive rain and sudden flood during monsoon, most of these farmers engaged in growing jute traditionally, have shifted to Eri rice cultivation. Some of them have tried to find other means of livelihoods.
nezine.com File Photo /Ratna Bharali Talukdar
The place where Hussain and others grew jute now seems like a barren land. Only the skeletons of damaged plants are standing on the fields.
“I myself cultivated jute in my three and half bigha of land while sharecroppers grew jute in the remaining two bighas. Flood destroyed all these crops. The cultivation during earlier times was quite good, as phenomenon like change of weather was not so frequent. The rains and floods were not so irregular. There were natural channels the excess water to drain out of the fields. The jute crops are damaged when excess water is deposited on the field for a longer duration,” says Hussain.
To tackle the situation, Hussain and other jute growers stopped cultivating the locally available variety of jute. “The local variety is called Sada, and we used to grow it from generations to generations and now we have shifted to Tosa, a water-resistant variety of jute brought from outside. Even though this variety is water-resistant, it cannot survive in excess water,” he adds.
Again, like excessive rains and floods, excessive heat too, may damage the crop Hussain laments that his crops were damaged many times in the past because of such extreme weather conditions. But this time he is totally ruined.
“This year, we have to face loss in both the varieties of jute. Till some years the yield per bigha was 15-16 maund (one maund equals 40 kilograms), which has now come down to 10-12 maunds” Hussain says.
The farmer also says apart from flood, jute cultivation of the area also got damaged due to insect attack. The insect eats the buds of the leaves, damaging the growth system of the jute plants. Jute cultivation is highly labour intensive, and it requires manpower. This is why, most of the growers have almost abandoned this crop due to decline in production per bigha land.
“Most of these farmers, who have abandoned jute cultivation, shifted to Eri rice cultivation. Eri rice cultivation involves huge cost, but the production is ensured. Compared to this production is no longer ensured in jute cultivation. There was a time when everyone of our area used to grow jute. However, now only I am growing jute”, he further says.
nezine.com File Photo /Ratna Bharali Talukdar
Jute is a bio-degradable, environment friendly and renewable natural fibre. Each part of this plant can be used for different purposes. Jute cultivation enhances the quality of land. It also contributes to enhance nutrients of the farmland. India is the largest jute producing country in the world. This Golden Fibre provides livelihood options to almost four million farmers of the country. India earns almost Rs. 1200 Crore annually by exporting jute products. Jute industry has a considerable share in Indian economy. Over 60 per cent of jute in the world is produced in India with an annual production of 11,494 bale. Apart from jute cultivation, jute industry too employs over 0.26 million people.
In 2014-15, Assam stood at the third place in India in jute cultivation with a production of 795 bales. Jute is mostly produced in Barpeta, Goalpara, Nagaon and Darrang districts in the state.
Increase in temperature and excessive heat due to global warming have caused deep impact in the production of jute. Jute cultivation requires alluvial land and regular rain. It can be sustained on a temperature range of 15-380 Celsius. Similarly, less rain or dry season also have negative impact of its production. It requires 12.5 hours of sunlight of the day. Crop damage may also occur when water gets deposited on the field. The threat of this factor is more frequent in cultivation of early phase of Tosa variety. If the Tosa variety can be improvised genetically as a flood-resistant variety then jute cultivation in flooded regions in Assam can also protected from such factors like flood condition affecting productions.
nezine.com File Photo /Ratna Bharali Talukdar
Climate expert Dr Partha Jyoti Das, who heads the Water, Climate and Hazard Division of Aaranyak, says: “A lot of scientific data have been published so far about the climate change impact on the entire Brahmaputra basin and Northeast region, the Eastern Himalayan region in particular. However, it is difficult to say what kind of impact and where it has occurred specifically in respect of Assam. We have come to know from certain studies that some phenomena that indicate climate change have occurred in Assam. Rise in temperature is the primary reason in the areas where climate change indicators have been observed. The average temperature in almost every place of the world has risen and latest data say that global temperature has increased by around 1.1 degree Celsius. In Northeast region and Assam too, the average temperature has increased and fluctuation in seasonal temperatures have been observed. Besides, the scientists have observed changes in amount of average rainfall during the Monsoon season in entire country. In Northeast region including Assam, it has been observed that the amount of rainfall during Monsoon has decreased since 1985. Moreover, the total number rainy days has decreased which has resulted in heavy rains in less numbers of days. Therefore, the incidences of heavy rains and excessive draught have increased. The agricultural activities in Assam are intricately dependent on right amount of rain in right time and therefore such changes have their impacts on the state’s agriculture. Therefore, heavy rain or draught affect agriculture in the state. The adverse impact of irregular rains is more on crops grown post- monsoon and on Rabi crops. The change in normal rain has affected all types of cultivation including jute cultivation. I have observed in a study on jute cultivation that due to drying of the wetland on account of less rainfall there is now shortage in natural wetlands which are required for retting of jute, in which jute plant is kept immersed in water for a few days. Therefore, climate change is having its impact on jute cultivation.”
Jute can purify air by absorbing up to 15 tons of CO2 in 100 days. This is why scientists and policy makers have shown keen interest in jute production to check climate change impacts and to conserve environment. However, tragic tales of jute cultivators devasted by climate change impact have painted a gloomy picture in Assam.
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