Today, India is trying to promote jute as a fabric for a sustainable future with the government issuing a mandate that all grains and 20 percent of sugar should be packed in jute sacks. Leading homegrown designers, such as Ashish Soni and Pawan Aswani, also use jute blends for their fashion lines. At Meghna Jute Mills, hundreds of barefoot workers labor in a vast dingy hall covered in fine, fibrous dust across eight-hour shifts, 24 hours a day. "Jute has a potentially huge international market," said company president Supriya Das, as noisy machines rolled out long strands of shimmery yarn behind him. Nearly all the world's jute is grown in this region or in Bangladesh because of the conducive humid climate and availability of cheap labor.

Source: Manila Times October 06, 2021 16:17 UTC