( 299 J 



419- The jute-cultivating industry is pactically a creation 

 of the British Raj. The first separate mention of jute as an 

 article of export is made in the customs returns for 1828, 

 when only 364 cwt. of this fibre went to Europe. In 1854, the 

 first European factory was established at Rishera near Seram- 

 pore. Several jute factories for baling of raw jute and manu- 

 facture of rope and gunny bags, sprang up round about Cal- 

 cutta in the course of a few years, until in 1886-87 the exports 

 of raw jute were valued at 4,869,814, and of manufactured 

 jute at 1,149,297. The raw jute trade is thus four times as 

 important as the trade in manufactured jute. 



420. The area under jute in Bengal is about 2, 271, 600 

 acres or 3-52 percent, of the total cultivated area of the 

 Province. The districts of the Dacca and Rajshahi Divisions 

 produce more than 3 times as much jute as the rest of Bengal. 

 The districts that have each more than 50,000 acres under the 

 crop are : 



Percentage of total 



District acres cultivated area. 



Mymensingh. 559, 100 ^-96 percent, 



Rangpur. 268,200 14-82 



Tippera. 212,000 1 3*3 , 



Dacca. 211,200 16-03 > 



Pabna. 174*500 11*07 >. 



Dinajpur. 107,500 6-29 . 



Rajshahi. 105,200 8-84 



Bogra. 100,000 1471 



Faridpur. 85,000 6-02 



Purnea. 75,000 3-57 



Jalpaiguri, 68,200 7-79 M 



42 1 . Taking 1 2 maunds of fibre as the average produce per 

 acre, the total outturn of jute in Bengal may be put down at 

 50,00,000 maunds valued at 7 to 10 crores of rupees. As 75 per 

 cent, of the jute is grown for sale and export, 6 to 8 crores 

 of Rupees per annum represent the reserve or potential 

 food earning capacity of raiyats which may be utilized in. 



