After Bangladesh, India is the second largest producer of raw jute and jute goods. 40% of the small and marginal farmers are supported by this industry as they are engaged in the cultivation of Jute and Mesta. In India, there are 70 jute mills. Due to the increasing competition from the international markets due to the availability of synthetic substitutes, Jute industry faced many challenges. Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Egypt and Thailand are the competitors. When the government made it mandatory to use the jute packaging, internal demand for Jute increased. To increase the demand for the Jute, it became important to expand its production.
Thus, the National Jute Policy was framed in 2005 with various objectives to solve the challenges faced by the Jute industries in India. These objectives are –
- To increase the productivity of the jute.
- To improve the quality of the jute.
- To ensure that farmers get the good prices of the Jute produced by them and to increase the yield per hectare.