Delicious date molasses is being made in Sirajganj. Due to the high production of date palm juice in the current season, molasses is also doing well. Jaggery is being sent to different districts of the country to meet the local demand. Jaggery is in great demand due to its good taste and quality. However, due to the violence of the middlemen and traders, the Gachi's are being deprived of a fair price.
On the surface, it can be seen in different areas of Sirajganj, that the gachi's come out with pots on their shoulders before the sun rises in the foggy winter morning. Each date tree has an earthen pot. Throughout the night, little by little date juice accumulates in those pots. Date molasses is made with that date juice.
one by one, the sap accumulated in the pots is brought down from the tree. Then it is burnt for about 3 to 3.5 hours in a special kind of oven made of clay. After a certain time, when the juice thickens, it is poured into a container to make delicious date jaggery. At the beginning of the winter season, gachi's come from different parts of the country including Rajshahi, Pabna, and Natore, and make this jaggery from the juice of these dates.
Jaggery trader Sarkar said that molasses production is also good this year as the juice production is good. Jaggery produced here has a good taste and quality, so there is a lot of demand for jaggery across the country. However, due to a lack of supervision, the profits of molasses go into the pockets of middlemen.
Nazmul Hasan, who is involved in the production of molasses in Tarash, said that this time our business is excellent. The daily jaggery production is also quite good. However, due to the lack of a proper market system, they do not make much profit, he said.
Bablu Kumar Sutradhar, Deputy Director of the District Agriculture Extension Department said, various suggestions are being given to the farmers regarding the preparation of best quality molasses by collecting juice from date trees in the right way. He said that more than three hundred molasses farmers in different upazilas of Sirajganj earn their living by making date molasses for three winter months. In the current season, the target of molasses produced from about 10,000 date trees in the district is about 140 metric tons.
ARS
