The season for collecting date palm molasses (khejur gur), Jashore’s traditional product with a geographical indication (GI), has begun. The district is expected to produce at least Tk 100 crore worth of date palm sap and molasses this season. People involved expect tapping the trees, making the molasses and selling it to create seasonal work for about 30,000 women and men.
According to sources, Jashore’s tradition of date palm molasses is about 400 years old.
Commercial production of the molasses, and of sugar made from it, began around 1790. The East India Company began exporting sugar made from date palm molasses to Europe in 1792.
At that time a British trader, Mr New House, set up a large sugar mill at Taherpur in Hakimpur union of Chaugachha upazila, where the Bhairab and Kapotaksha rivers meet. The ruins of the mill still stand on the riverbank.
From 1860 to 1890 was the golden age of sugar production and export from date palm molasses. Sugar made at the Chaugachha mill was exported to Europe through the port of Kolkata.
But when sugar began to be made from cane, the making of sugar from date palm molasses stopped, and the region’s traditional industry faded over time. Now that cane production has fallen and demand for date palm molasses is rising, the product has a chance again. Demand is growing among health-conscious people, those involved said.
To raise production, the agriculture department is giving sap collectors (gachhi) tree-cutting tools, free training, date palm saplings and IT-based services for selling molasses online.
Jashore Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashek Hasan said the prime minister is keeping track of date palm molasses production in Jashore. The agriculture minister has declared Chaugachha upazila a special agricultural zone. The government will take effective steps to export date palm molasses from this season, he said.
He added that one entrepreneur has moved to make syrup from date palm sap and export it this season.
Zahidul Islam Biswas, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, said date palm molasses is a GI product of Jashore district. It gives work to thousands of women and men in the region in winter. There is strong demand for it in the Middle East, and the government is moving to export it. If exports succeed, sap collectors will earn more, he said.
Mizanur Rahman, a molasses maker and sap collector from Barni village in Sukhpukuria union of Chaugachha upazila, said winter comes as a blessing for his family. In this season he can meet household costs and save a good amount by selling sap and molasses.
He said he makes a kind of white molasses cake (patali) by a special, laborious method. It sells for Tk 800 to Tk 1,200 a kilogram. He urged the government to take the steps needed to export it.
Shimur Sardar of Jamalta village has started work as a new sap collector this season. He said he has begun collecting sap from about 80 date palms this year and is already getting good orders for molasses and patali early in the season. He hopes to earn well.
Rabiul Islam Khan, a sap collector from Singhajhuli village, said the date palm is a profitable farm asset. It costs little to look after, yet one tree can yield at least Tk 3,000 worth of sap and molasses a season.
The graduate sap collector added that if the government treated the sap and molasses of greater Jashore as an industry and planned properly, the country could save a great deal of money on sugar imports.
Ataur Rahman, a small trader from Fulsara village in Chaugachha upazila, said he buys molasses from sap collectors and sells it to consumers. He has been in the business for several years and earns well from it through the winter.
Chaugachha Upazila Nirbahi Officer Farjana Islam said the upazila administration is giving sap collectors all-round support. A molasses fair is held every year to promote the product and widen its market at home and abroad.
Chaugachha upazila agriculture officer Moshabbir Hussain said the upazila has about two lakh date palms, of which at least 30,000 can be tapped. One tree yields about 80 litres of sap a season, from which about 10 kg of molasses can be made.
On that basis, he said, Chaugachha upazila produces about Tk 9 crore worth of date palm molasses each season, and the whole of Jashore district could produce at least Tk 100 crore worth this season.
Irufa Sultana, a former Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Chaugachha and now additional deputy commissioner of Khulna district, was involved in the application for GI recognition of date palm molasses as a Jashore product. She said date palm molasses is an inseparable part of Jashore’s heritage and culture, and winning GI recognition for it is a matter of great joy and pride for her.
She added that the recognition will present Jashore’s heritage at home and abroad and raise the economic prospects of sap collectors and molasses makers. Preserving this heritage, ensuring quality and building recognition in international markets should now be important goals, she said.
On the rising demand, Dr Ahsanul Mizan Rumi, Chaugachha upazila family planning officer, said date palm molasses contains various minerals and iron that sugar does not. The iron can help the body make haemoglobin. It also contains potassium, magnesium, calcium and antioxidants. But date palm molasses also contains sugars, so it is best eaten in moderation, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report