RAJSHAHI, Jan 22, 2020 (BSS) – Date juice extraction along with its
follow-up business including processing has become boon for many people as they are dependent on it for long in terms of improving their living and livelihood condition in the region.
Sweet date juice is a natural and very delicate drink in winter. With
the advent of winter, large numbers of date juice extractors begin extracting
delicious juice from the date trees every year. Now, they are spending busy
time in extracting the juice.
Date juice is also used for making delicious molasses and various types
of cakes. Date juice and molasses are recognised as the most cherished
products of winter in the region. So, many people cultivate date trees
commercially.
There are many date trees in the fields and roadsides in the region
including its vast Barind tract. Local villagers said three upazilas like
Charghat, Bagha and Puthiya in the district are famous for date-molasses.
Some molasses markets like Baneshwar, Puthia, Jhalmalia, Charghat and Bagha
are very famous in the region. Scores of people are engaged in the business
related to date.
Mozammel Haque, an extractor of Charghat Upazila, said he has 210 trees
on six and half bighas of land and earns around Taka two lakh every year. A
date palm tree gives juice, cooking materials, molasses and other by-
products, he also said.
He said produced molasses by the farmers in the three upazilas are being
exported to many foreign countries escalating the rural economy.
Firoj Ali, another date juice harvester of Gaigirpara village under
Puthiya Upazila, said he has no any date tree for his own. Every season, he
manages permission of collecting juice of 120 trees of others at a cost of
Taka 175.
Ali processed around 25 kilograms of molasses from the collected juice
every day. He meets his annual family needs with getting profit doing the
seasonal molasses business.
Suman Sarker, a molasses wholesaler at Jhalmalia Hat in the same
upazila, said sell volume of molasses on every hat-day is more than Taka one
crore.
Potters are struggling to supply specially designed small earthen pots
for collection of juice and big ones for boiling the juice to produce
molasses, which are sold in markets all over Bangladesh through traders.
Suman Sarker hoped that the business will play a vital role to change
the socio-economic picture of the whole region if everybody comes forward to
plant the trees in fallow land.
Trader Anwar Hossain, who comes to Bagha Bazar from Barisal every year
to purchase molasses, told the journalists he purchased 40 mounds of molasses
at Taka 60 per kilogram.
Mohsin Ali, a retailer at the same market, said he sold molasses at Taka
65 per kilogram last week and the retail price is now on downtrend with
rising of production.
Shamsul Haque, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture
Extension (DAE), says there are more than eight lakh date trees in the
district producing around 8,000 tonnes of molasses valued at around Taka 60
crore every season.
There are also many other date trees on the roadside, railway tracks and
on fallow lands and homesteads while date-molasses are produced commercially
here.
He added that regular in-taking of sugar or molasses with rice and other
nutritious foods is very essential for human especially the children for
developing their merit.