Jute in the agrarian history of Bengal, 1870-1914: a study in primary production

The present study examines the development of jute cultivation in Bengal between 1870 and 1914 and the various issues related to it. The rapid growth of world demand for jute in the latter part of the nineteenth century presented a widespread challenge to the Bengal countryside which possessed a near monopoly in jute cultivation. The first issue was how effectively the peasant small-holders could respond to the increased demand. Jute cultivation also produced problems of availability of land, labour, capital, transport and marketing facilities. It raised the question, too, of how benefits from cash crop cultivation were shared between production and distribution sectors in British India