Jute retting as practiced now is age old and based on traditional experience of jute cultivators. As availability of water gets reduced problems related to pollution generate the need for alternative technologies to be developed. The traditional methods of jute retting also have an adverse effect on the health of farmers who have to stand in water for long hours. Some research and development work has been done on pre-retting and post-retting technologies but needs to be pursued further.

One of the objectives of Mini Mission-III is to assist jute growers to get better returns. To achieve this objective jute retting needs to be developed with the help of chemicals so that the farmers get better quality fibre and better returns for their jute crop. Pre-retting and post-retting technologies will not only improve the quality of grading of raw jute by one to two grades, but also improve the quality of raw jute so that suitable fine yarn for jute diversified products may be produced. As the State of Andhra Pradesh has seen the establishment of several composite jute mills, as well as twine units, there is a need to improve the quality of mesta fibre which is grown in Andhra Pradesh. So far research and development in the area of jute retting has been continued in the laboratories. Results in the laboratories need to be tried out in the field and disseminated among the farmers.

The Jute Corporation of India (JCI) will act as the nodal agency and coordinate the activities of all the agencies involved. Jute Corporation of India(JCI has centers in all the jute growing States. Transfer of technology of retting of jute at farm level will be executed through JCI as well as other agencies / NGOs/Scientists to be identified by the JCI. JCI will associate State Governments and its agencies, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA) and CRIJAF in its developmental efforts and demonstrate / transfer the various technologies at the farm level. Two times tested simple technologies developed earlier by scientists/IJIRA/CRIJEF/NIRJEFT/UNIVERSITIES NIRJEFT will be transferred from Lab to Land. (a) Pre-retting technology (b) Post retting technology in a retting tank of different sizes in which water flow will be created. This will ensure clean water with sufficient dissolved oxygen so that retting micro-organisms grow properly and the chemicals e.g. tannin and other substances get washed away regularly, and are liberated during the process. The natural colour and quality of raw jute will thus be achieved irrespective of the charge number. Moreover, the total time of retting a charge is expected thereby to get reduced substantially. Various size of Mini Retting Tanks spread are proposed to be constructed in an average Jute growing region for imparting/demonstrating such modern retting technologies to farmers.

The Department of Bio-technology has been coordinating programmes on improvement of Jute Fibre using Bio-technology tools for achieving higher retting efficiency and quality. The encouraging results of the first phase of the Project would be carried forward in the JTM Phase. There will be coordinated efforts to standardise the protocols of biological tools for retting purposes. The efforts to intensify the research and application of the research results in commercialised scale may be attempted. If need be suitable incentives may be brought in to encourage the new technology.

Ribbon Technology develops by Research Institute is widely accepted by growers as it requires less water & these is quality improvement of the fibre. But it requires more time in ribboning of plant. Therefore this is need for development of high speed ribboner through appropriate machine manufacturer and Research Institutes & suitable funds.