Kolkata, May 16, 2025

The Jute Corporation of India Limited (JCI) has completed 54 glorious years in the service of the nation. JCI’s primary mandate is to provide MSP support to the Jute Farmers whenever the market price of jute falls below the MSP fixed by the Govt. of India. In the past 54 years, JCI has stood beside the jute farmers, preventing distress sale.

This year JCI has procured more than 5.05 lakh quintals of raw jute for ₹252.38 Crores in FY 2024-25. MSP purchase is still continuing to help the farmers. For the ensuing crop year (2025-26) commencing from 1st July 2024, the Govt. of India has declared TD3 (Middle Grade) basis MSP rate as Rs 5,650.00 per Quintal from Rs 5,335, and the Office of Jute Commissioner has announced variety wise grade wise MSP rates for the Crop Year 2025-26 (July '25 to June'26).

This apart, to improve the quality of raw jute and to increase the yield of jute production JCI took the responsibility of executing the Jute-ICARE Scheme, funded by the National Jute Board and assisted by the leading agricultural research Institutes - ICAR-CRIJAF and ICAR-NINFET. The scheme aims at mechanization in jute farming in a farmer-friendly way and accelerated retting using microbial consortium for improved income of jute farmers.

Of late, Jute-ICARE has introduced a Geospatial Crop Surveillance & Monitoring system in association with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to cover jute fields on Pan India basis. This is meant to accurately ascertain the cultivated land and estimate jute production and productivity which will be available on a platform named PATSAN Module which is in the process of development. A tripartite MoU was signed in this regard among NRSC-ISRO, NJB, JCI in the last Financial Year and is still in force.

In fact, Remote sensing data does provide many advantages over conventional methods, particularly in terms of timely decision making mechanisms, spatial depiction and coverage including cost effectiveness. Space data is used in addressing many critical aspects, such as crop area estimation, crop yield & production estimation, crop condition, deriving basic soil information, cropping system studies, experimental crop insurance, etc.

NRSC, along with the Ministry of Textiles, Jute Corporation of India Ltd. (JCIL), and the National Jute Board (NJB), is developing a Jute Crop Information System (JCIS) utilising space and ground data to monitor and manage jute crops. A geospatial crop surveillance and monitoring system is also being introduced to cover jute fields across India, allowing for accurate estimation of jute production and productivity.

Besides, Satellite-based Jute Crop Mapping uses satellite data to map jute crops and identify areas for more precise sampling. Satellite yield proxies are used to determine Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE) locations, allowing for accurate yield estimates at the district level. The district and national level jute production are provided based on satellite-based jute cropped area and CCE-based jute dry fibre yield. A mobile app is also used to collect field data, including geo-tagged information, which is then hosted on the BHUVAN geo-portal for analysis and visualisation.

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