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Environmental Impact Assessment of Jute Production Systems in Bangladesh

M. M. Rahman
Principal Scientific Officer
Jute Farming Systems Division, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Dhaka 1207.

B. K. Bala
Professor
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The study presents the impact of environmental and ecological health consequences of jute production systems in Bangladesh through life cycle assessment of the production systems. Jute production systems (both conventional and improved) up to retting are unique. Improved process required less input (product: 19871.5 kg/ha, water: 67320 liter/ha and time of retting: 12 days only) but produced almost similar output (fibre: 1906 kg/ha, stick: 5714 kg/ha), emitted less to the water (COD: 12.79 kg/ha and TSS: 7.70 kg/ha) and to air (CH4: 3.26 kg/ha, CO₂: 3.19 kg/ha and H₂S: 0.07 kg/ha) compared to conventional retting input (product: 40357.00 kg/ha, water: 188496 liter/ha, and retting time: 20 days), output (fibre: 1996.5 kg/ha, stick: 5533 kg/ha), emissions to water (COD: 35.81 kg/ha and TSS: 21.50 kg/ha) and to air (CH₄: 9.13 kg/ha, CO₂: 8.94 kg/ha and H₂S: 0.18 kg/ha). The amount of nutrients emitted, N (-25.92 and -26.08 kg/ha), P₂0₅ (-7.44 and -7.51 kg/ha) and K₂0 (-133.55 and -134.16 kg/ha) showed negative values for both the conventional and improved system; respectively. The values of GWP, COD, Nutrification and Human toxicity: air as CLM factors (kg/kg fibre) for improved retting practice showed better performance and more environment friendly characteristics than the conventional one. At the same time jute cultivation in Bangladesh showed better performances to that of kenaf and roselle cultivation in China and Thailand respectively and even jute production in India also. It is revealed that the jute production system in Bangladesh as a whole is an environment friendly production system.

Keywords: Jute, Production, Environmental impact

Location: Bangladesh Jute Research Institute

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Risk Management in Agriculture

Commodity: Jute

Objectives:

To assess the environmental impact and ecological health consequences of the production systems.

Methodology:

This study addressed the jute production process up to the retting techniques. The practice extensively followed by the producer for retting of jute is the whole plant retting, whereas a new improved technique of green ribbon retting for both the quality fibre and suitable for water scarce areas developed by Bangladesh Jute Research Institute are compared for the environmental consequences. Before the retting process the agricultural practice followed by the jute growers are common for the systems (both conventional and improved). The rationale of the goal definition stage is to specify the purpose and the scope of the study. By purpose it means the reason for carrying out the LCA. Specifying the scope of the study implies defining the context in which the assessment is being made, that is defining the system and its boundary and specifying the functional unit. The activities undertaken to do this usually are: • problem specification • scope defining • the functional unit Jute production systems in this study are addressed through four distinctive steps of (i) Sowing, (ii) Growing, (iii) Harvesting and (iv) Retting. Two different retting processes (a) Conventional (whole plant retting) and (b) Improved (separated green bark, i.e., ribbon retting) are compared in the LCA to identify the environmentally more sound one and at the same time to show that the jute production system as a whole is an environment friendly one, which are the goals of the present study. Normally it is expected that the LCA study for jute production system should encompass the seed to seed production process as a whole. But this study addresses only seed to fibre production portion with judicial inclusion of inputs and outputs. Sowing of jute seed is done after land preparation by well ploughing and leveling with optimum application of manure and fertilizer for good crop stand. Two methods of seed sowing, broadcasting and line sowing are practiced at the farmers' level. Line sowing technique was followed in this study. Optimum growing period for jute crop is 120 days during which thinning, weeding, fertilization and plant protection measures were taken as and necessary. Around 70% seedlings were thinned for well growth of the jute crop. Weeding-thinning stage of jute crop growth needed huge labor force and most of the inputs sanctioned for the production system. Harvesting of jute crop in the field experimentation was done at the crop age of 120 DAE (days after emergence) followed by leaving the produce 3 days at the field for defoliation. Before placing the 'crop in the water for retting, one half of the grown crop was taken for manual green ribbon separation process. Retting is the only stage where there are two different options considered in the present study. Equal attention was given for both the ribbon retting and whole plant retting processes in the present study for quantifying the emissions to soil, air and water, which affect the environment and ecological health consequences. In case of the jute production system in Bangladesh "mass balance" technique has been applied for the estimation of emission cases of nutrients and biogas taking example from the study . Nutrient emissions have been assessed as follows:

(i) estimation of N, P and K input through fertilizer and manure; (ii) estimation of N, P and K output in product (fibre) and by-products (stick, biomass and waste water); (iii) the difference is addressed as emissions to the soiI. Concentrations of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in retting water were assessed in an environmental engineering laboratory for the water samples prior to retting, during retting and after the completion of retting and the data have been used for calculating the emissions to water by jute retting process. According to Jantzen et al. (2003) the composition of biogas are CH₄ (50%), CO₂ (49%) and H₂S (1%). Total emissions to retting water are then calculated as follows: {(Concentration during retting)-(concentration after retting)} X (amount of water used in retting the product for 1 ha)x (amount of dry substance in unit amount of COD)=110 mg/lit x 188.496 m³xO.88 DS/ COD = 31.52 kg/ha for conventional system of retting.Similarly, 11.37 kg/ha have been calculated for improved system of retting. Impact assessment is a process where the potential impacts of the resource requirements and environmental loading are characterized and assessed. Impact assessment includes the following steps:

• Classification • Characterization • Valuation. In the classification step the different emission demands are assigned to different impact categories that are based on the expected kind of impacts on the environment. The main purpose of the activity is to describe which potential environmental effects the inputs and outputs caused. In the characterization step, the potential contributions from the different inputs and outputs (as global warming, nutrification, human toxicity: air etc.) are connected to the different impact categories, and the contribution to the same impact category is to add up. In valuation, different types of environmental impacts are weighted against each other. In this study between the conventional whole plant and improved ribbon retting practice as well as among the similar systems abroad have been compared. In this stage of LCA the identification, evaluation and selection of options for environmental improvement are usually done. Both improved and efficient one with respect to inputs and outputs are identified and recommended for further practice.

Source of Information: Journal of Agricultural Engineering The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, Vol. 37/AE, December 2009

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1.

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

It is seen that the conventional retting practice emits CO₂ more to the air and water, hence exerts little bit more burdens to the environment in comparison to the improved ribbon retting system. But jute production system as a whole still exerts less burden to the environment in comparison to the kenaf production system in China, roselle production system in Thailand and even jute production system in India also. Jute production system rather assimilate more than 5.7 ton/ha CO₂ from the atmosphere in the life time. Thus it can be concluded that the jute production system is an environment friendly system as a whole. At the same time jute production system served not as a source but as a sink for CO₂ emissions. Toxic releases (heavy metals etc.) mainly come from fertilize use, which is relatively small in case of jute production process. Hence, negligible threat comes from toxic releases of jute production process. On the other hand conventional retting system releases little bit more GHG than improved one. Conventional system produces 4.75% more dry fibre, but the quality of the fibre is inferior (bottom to middle) to that of improved (top to middle) system (price of quality fibre is more in the market). Green fibre retting in the improved system required more manpower (4.40%) than conventional one but polluted the environment considerably less than conventional one through emission to air and water. Overall LCA on jute agriculture revealed that the systems studied are environmentally sound, but comparatively the improved (ribbon retting) one is more environment friendly than the conventional whole plant retting because of less water requirement for retting of only green ribbon.

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