Date-gur . Photo:BSS

By Md Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, Feb 16, 2025 (BSS) - Suman Sarker, 54, a molasses wholesaler at 
Jhalmalia Hat under Puthiya upazila in the district, is very happy over the 
gur business saying the volume of the business on every hat days is more than 
Taka 10 million.
 
He said blacksmiths are busy with making sharp crescent shaped machetes that 
are used in cleaning and removing layers from the neck of the date tree for 
extraction of juice.
 
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 the country through traders.
 
Suman Sarker hoped that the business will play a vital role in changing the 
socio-economic condition of the whole region if everybody comes forward to 
plant the trees in fallow lands.
 
Ramzan Ali, 58, a date juice harvester of Hatgodagari Kathalpara village 
under Paba upazila, said he has no date tree of his own. Every season, he 
manages permission to collect juice from 120 trees of others at a cost of 
Taka 175 each.
 
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.
 
Trader Anwar Hossain, 41, who comes to Bagha Bazar from Barishal every year 
to purchase molasses, said that he purchased 40 mounds of molasses at Taka 60 
per kilogram.
 
Mohsin Ali, 47, a retailer at the same market, said he sold molasses at Taka 
65 per kilogram last week and the retail price is now on a downtrend with 
rising production.
 
He said the farmers of the upazila send molasses to different areas of the 
country including the capital every year. 
 
If they can expand the business, they would achieve huge profit and change 
their socio-economic conditions, he added.

Ali said manufacturing and business of date gur has been thriving everywhere 
here, generating employment opportunities for more than one lakh people 
coupled with a vibrant local economy.
 
Date juice extraction along with its follow-up business including processing 
has become a boon for many people as they are dependent on it for long to 
make their fortunes in the region.
 
Sweet date juice is a natural and very delicate drink in winter as a large 
number of date juice collectors get a way of earning this season. 
 
The date juice collectors, locally known as 'gachhis', are passing busy times 
in collecting date-juice and processing molasses at present.
 
Villagers said three upazilas -- Charghat, Bagha and Puthiya -- are famous 
for date-molasses. The trading of date-molasses is now on the closing moment 
as the winter says good-bye for the current season.
 
Produced molasses by the farmers in the three upazilas are exported to many 
foreign countries, escalating the rural economy.
 
Umme Salam, deputy director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), 
said there are more than 0.8 million date trees in the district producing 
around 8,000 tonnes of molasses valued around Taka 600 million every season.
 
There are a total of 0.39 million trees in Charghat upazila followed by 0.29 
million in Bagha upazila and 85,000 in Puthiya upazila.
 
There are also many other date trees on roadside, railway tracks and on 
fallow lands and homesteads while date-molasses are produced commercially.
 
Agriculturalist Salma said the farmers collect the juice accumulated in the 
clay pot overnight. They evaporate the juice by heating it the next morning 
to make solid (Patali gur) or thick-slurry (Jhola gur).
 
She said a farmer can produce 20 to 25 kilograms of molasses from a single 
date-tree in a season. As there is no need for extra care of the trees, it 
may be a very profitable business.
 
She also said regular in-taking of sugar or molasses with rice and other 
nutritious foods is very essential for humans, especially the children for 
developing their merit.