Hundreds of buyers from different areas rush to date molasses market at Kaliganj town in Jhenidah to purchase date molasses. Although heavy rush of the whole sale buyers is witnessed, the supply of the molasses is least in quantity this season than the last season.
Molasses farmer Hazrat Ali and Golam Rasul of Barobzer area under Kaliganj upazila said they could not prepare adequate date plants this season due to rainfall. It has reduced the extracting of date juice from the plants in time. The price of the same was high in the current season, they said.
Niamat Ali, molasses vendor of Harigobindapur village, said that he had been doing the business in the molasses market for past 47 years. He had purchased about seven maunds (each maund 40 kilograms) at the rate of taka 45 to 50 each kilogram. He is expecting to sell the same at Taka 55 to 60 to other vendors.
Niamat Ali said the buyers from Dhaka, Sylhet, Fridpur, Barisal, Cumilla, Satkhira, Bagerhat and some other areas rush to Kaliganj molasses market every Monday and Friday to purchase the molasses. The Kaliganj variety has a name for the plenty taste and fragrance that attracts people.
Jabbar Seikh, a molasses vendor of Faridpur, said usually they purchase the medium quality of the molasses at the rate of taka 70 to 75 each kilogram and sell the same in the local markets at taka 90 to 100 as it has a good demand. Shyamoli Rani Mallik, Nandita Roy and Salma Islam at the molasses market said they purchase the best quality of molasses cake from the market directly to prepare Bhapapitha, Kuslipitha, Chitoi, Puli and some other traditional rural cakes with the tasty and plenty date molasses as it is a favorite cake for the Bengalees here and there.
They are purchasing date cakes at the rate of Taka 130 each kilogram. A source of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jhenidah said that the farmers produce about 10 thousand tones of date molasses every year in the district which is consumed by the locals as well as people from other areas.
Kaliganj variety of molasses has a great demand throughout the country for the suitable soil of the area.
A few thousand date juice extractors maintain their livelihood preparing the date plants in the every winter, the sources said.
