Jute
Also called: Golden fibre · Topic: Major Crops of India: Distribution and Conditions · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Agriculture"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Jute is a fibre crop. It is called "the golden fibre" because of its shiny, golden-brown colour. It is used to make gunny bags, sacks, mats, ropes and carpets. Jute needs high temperatures. It grows best on fertile flood-plain soils, which are the soils beside rivers that get a fresh layer of silt after every year's floods. Jute matters to the economy of eastern India. India grows about three-fifths of the world's jute (NCERT; verify current), yet jute covers only about 0.5% of India's cropped area.
Example
West Bengal gives about three-fourths of India's jute. It grows on the flood plains of the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta in the east of the country. Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya also grow jute.
Don't confuse with
- Cotton: cotton is also a fibre crop, but it grows on the drier black soils of the Deccan. Jute needs wet flood plains that are renewed with silt every year.