Just Jute
The story behind the product.

Photo: Shakila Perveen sewing bags for New Internationalist.

Following the 1971 War of Liberation, the US based Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) established clinics and nutrition centres in Saidpur, northern Bangladesh, where the displaced Bihari population were suffering more than most the impacts of food shortages and disease.

It quickly transpired that what the refugee Biharis needed were jobs. Following a campaign in 1976 to reduce the impact of plastic shopping bags in Europe, MCC was approached to provide an alternative using jute – a staple crop of Bangladesh. They opened a workshop in Saidpur for women who had attended the nutrition centre, in what was meant to be a temporary employment project. Today this project has become Action Bags, employing hundreds of women making a variety of jute products for the Fair Trade export market.

Most of the women were, and still are, widows or abandoned wives, who after training are encouraged and assisted to start their own small businesses at home. Action Bags buys the products the women make, and provides classes in literacy, health and nutrition, which the women attend when delivering their orders.

Shakila Perveen is one of the hundreds of success stories from Action Bag’s short history. She was married at 14, but her husband was killed by terrorists while on business in Pakistan a year after their baby was born. Functionally illiterate, she had to find a job to support her son. She approached Action Bags, and 14 years later she can read and write, has put her son through school, and is preparing to buy herself a home.

Jute facts:

Jute fibre is 100% bio-degradable & recyclable and thus environment friendly.

It is the second most important vegetable fibre after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability.

It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breathability of fabrics.

It is one of the most versatile natural fibres that has been used in raw materials for packaging, textiles, non-textile, construction, and agricultural sectors.

Jute plant is derived from a relative of the Hemp (Cannabis) plant. However, Jute is totally free from narcotic elements and odor.

The best source of Jute in the world is the Bengal Delta Plain in the Ganges Delta, most of which is occupied by Bangladesh.