Rural Lalmonirhat: Traditional miniature silo still in demand
Slowly and steadily traditional agricultural practices as well as tools and accessories used by farmers are being replaced by modern machinery and gadgets. But duli, a traditional rice storage bin or a miniature silo, made of bamboo, is still being used by farmers in rural Lalmonirhat.
Depending on the amount of rice harvested in a season, each rice farmer usually sets up one or two duli in their homestead to store rice for the consumption of family members all through the year.
The rice harvest season is when demand for duli is at its peak and it is the time when craftsmen remain the busiest, trying to keep up with orders made by duli traders.
Many rice farmers also visit the local craftsmen at their houses to place custom order or pick up a readymade duli of their choice.
Duli craftsman Shafiqul Islam, from Kamalabari village in Aditmari upazila, said they had been busy making duli before the harvesting of rice started this season.
It takes about two to three days to make a duli. But the demand is so great this time around that the artisans have been working from dusk till dawn since then and many of them are even working nights to ensure on-time delivery of their products to their buyers.
Many buyers even make advance payments to the craftsmen and the profit from the sale of each duli is around Tk 600 to 700, he also said.
Nur Hossain, another duli maker from the same village, said there are over 60 duli artisans in Lalmonirhat.
Compared to previous years, the profit margin on each duli has come down in recent time as the price of its main component, bamboo, has gone up. Nonetheless, this year seems to be promising so far, with almost double the sales than that in the year before, he added.
Rice farmer Mahesh Chandra Barman, from Hajiganj village, said duli is popular among local rice farmers for storing rice in their houses.
Duli is available in three regular sizes -- small, medium and large. The small one holds about 10 to 12 maunds of rice, the medium 20 to 22 maunds and the large one holds as much as 25 to 30 maunds.
If made with inferior quality and thin bamboo slivers, a duli lasts around three to four years. But a duli made with high quality thick bamboo slivers can last up to seven or eight years, he explained.
Rice farmers have been blessed this year with a good harvest and the increased production of the crop has given rise to the need for more duli in each farmer's house, said an all smiles elderly farmer, Ranjit Chandra Barman, from Megharam village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.
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