‘Tis the season to eat molasses

It's a relatively small window. For four months a year, from mid-November to March, farmers who sell molasses from date juice hit their peak.

Hundreds of farmers in Jhenidah are no different. Every winter, buckets upon buckets of molasses are made in its six upazilas, which are then sent to Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, basically all over the country.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Jhenidah, around a 1,000 tonnes of molasses are produced in the district, each kilogramme of which sells for up to Tk 200-250.

After talking to locals, namely Abdur Rahman of Kaliganj upazila and Sujit Kumar of Shailakupa upazila, it was found that each date tree fetches around Tk 10,000. The farmers meet their domestic demand with this and can earn extra money by selling the rest. The "gur" is made mostly by female farmers, who also use it to cook pitha, payesh and other sweets.

However, over this popular and profitable sector looms the shadow of timber traders and brick kiln owners, who are trying to lure them into selling the date trees. According to the DAE, the district is home to 4,32,000O date trees.

However, the numbers are decreasing by the day as many farmers are opting to sell their trees.

 Deputy Director of Jhenaidah DAE Asgar Ali told this correspondent that molasses of the district are particularly famous.

"Despite this, a few years back, farmers started selling the date trees after being tempted by timber traders. We are currently trying to convince them not to do this considering the promise of the sector. Some of them are now planting more trees."