DHAKA, March 9, 2023 (BSS)-The Ministry of Agriculture has approved a proposal to import 5,200 tonnes jute seed from India this year against country’s demand of 6400 tonnes of jute seeds.

The decision was taken following the 109th meeting of the National Seed Board with Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akhter in the chair.

“The annual demand of country’s jute seed including the most popular varieties like Mesta and Kenaf has been fixed almost 6,369 tonnes ---of its Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) will supply 1,300 tonnes and the rest nearly 5200 tonnes will be imported from India”, an official release said here today.

In 2023-24, kenaf and mesta jute will be cultivated on country’s 7,64,000 hectares of land where nearly 6400 tonnes of jute seed is needed to fulfill jute cultivation target.

Of the total required seed, the release said the government has issued permission to import 4,600 tonnes of Indian tossa jute variety JRO-524 and another 576 tonnes jute seed of Mesta and Kenaf variety also.

During last year, the government has approved to import 5,000 tonnes of jute seed while the net import was only 4,166 tonnes.