Date juice extraction and making of jaggery or gur (molasses) has turned to a profitable business in Bagha and Charghat upazilas of Rajshahi district due to its huge demand and the high market price.
More than 10,000 people of Bagha and Charghat upazilas are learnt to be engaged in extracting date juice, making jaggery and selling those at a satisfactory price in local hats and markets.
On the off-set of the winter, the Gachhis or trimmers who used to collect date juice by trimming and cutting stems of date trees, are spending their busy time in collecting date juice from hundreds of trees of the upazilas.
The gur made from the date juice has a good demand across the country since during the winter season it a tradition for rural people to make different kinds of cakes and pithas with date juice .
Elsewhere in Bagha and Chargaht upaziala, it is a common scene to see vans, push carts, buffalo carts, vans etc. loaded with earthen pots full of gur heading for different markets of the district everyday for sale.
Besides, trucks loaded with date gur go to Dhaka, Chittagong and other districts of the country to meet the demand.. It is learnt, a farmer having 10 date trees can earn Taka 100 to 150 a day in the district by selling date juice and molasses. One jar of date juice is sold at Taka 30 to Taka 40 while one kilogram of molasses is sold at Taka 60 to Taka 70. Due to its aroma and taste, quality date gur is incomparable. The country could earn a huge forex by exporting it abroad.