Guwahati: The Centre has sharpened its focus on the Northeast’s jute sector, with Assam, Nagaland, and Meghalaya taking centre stage at a national review meeting convened by the Ministry of Textiles to assess crop readiness and boost regional value chains.
The State Agriculture Conference on Jute, chaired by Textiles Secretary Neelam Shami Rao, brought together key stakeholders from the Northeast, while major producers West Bengal and Bihar were notably absent, signalling a strategic pivot towards expanding jute cultivation beyond traditional belts.
Senior officials from Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Odisha participated in the meeting, alongside representatives from the Directorate of Jute Development, ICAR–CRIJAF, National Jute Board (NJB), Jute Corporation of India (JCI), and ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
A major outcome of the meeting was the signing of a tripartite MoU involving the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation (NEHHDC), NJB, and JCI, aimed at strengthening the entire jute value chain in the Northeast.
The agreement is expected to:
- Improve market access and price realisation for farmers in the region
- Strengthen procurement and aggregation systems
- Promote local processing and value addition, reducing dependence on raw fibre exports
Officials said the move could be a “game changer” for jute growers in Assam and neighbouring states, where cultivation remains underdeveloped despite favourable agro-climatic conditions.
The conference also reviewed sowing progress, seed availability, and adoption of improved farming practices, with a strong emphasis on the ongoing Jute-ICARE scheme, which supports farmers through certified seeds, mechanisation tools, and field demonstrations.
In a significant tech push, NRSC–ISRO presented the Jute Crop Information System, a geospatial platform designed to enable real-time crop monitoring, acreage estimation, and data-driven planning, tools that could help states like Assam better track and scale cultivation.
The Centre also stressed the need to improve retting infrastructure, a critical factor affecting fibre quality, and encouraged states to adopt mechanised solutions to reduce labour intensity.
With the Northeast increasingly being positioned as a growth frontier for jute, the Ministry reiterated its commitment to enhancing productivity, improving fibre quality, and raising farmer incomes through targeted, region-specific interventions.
The latest initiatives indicate a clear policy shift, aiming to integrate the Northeast more deeply into India’s jute economy while building local value chains that can sustain long-term rural livelihoods.