With time, the centuries-old traditional pottery of Barisal's Gournadi Upazila is gradually disappearing. This pottery industry is in crisis today due to multifaceted problems and lack of patronage. Therefore, this hundred-year-old traditional pottery industry is on the way to extinction due to the touch of modernity. Scattered in different villages and areas of the upazila, there are numerous cottages that are home to the eye-catching potters. This easily blows anyone’s mind.
Once these villages were very famous for pottery. Due to the triumph of science, development of technology and proliferation of new industrial materials and lack of necessary patronage and favorable market, this industry is on the verge of extinction today. Which we Gournadi people are losing day by day.
After visiting the different areas of the district on the surface, it is known that most of the potters employed in different Upazila in the district belong to the Pal community. Since ancient times, pottery was restricted to class societies for religious and socio-social reasons. Later people from other communities took up pottery as a profession. As there is no demand for earthenware in the current market, its place has been taken over by zinc, aluminum and plastic pottery. As a result, sellers are not taking the earthenware with interest as before. Their needs depend on the buyers. But up to village in district, no more clay pots are visible.
Because of that, many old artists are forced to change profession. With the change of ages, earthenware has lost its old traditions. As a result, the life of those involved in this profession and whose livelihood is pottery has become very difficult. Even though the days are spent in the midst of sorrow, the potters of Gournadi Upazila still dream. Someday the value of soil products will rise again. On that day, happiness and peace will return to their family.
And they are still working day and night to wait for that auspicious day. Vikas Pal, a potter from Pal Para in Torky port, said that due to climate change, they have to spend a lot on collecting soil as the rivers and canals are filled up. Apart from this, due to the increase in the price of fuel, as production and sales do not match, they have to count losses constantly.
In this regard, the former president of Gournadi Upazila Press Club Khokon Ahmed Hira said Bangladesh Post about the ongoing status of pottery; pottery is a traditional industry of ours for hundreds of years. The government has been providing loan facilities to small and medium industrialists through Krishi Bank. But these benefits never reach the potters at the grass root level due to which these potters are losing enthusiasm. So many people are leaving this profession of their parents and moving towards other professions.
In addition to this, different types of initiatives should be taken to create new demand for these pottery products among the buyers. He also said that the government wants the country's traditional pottery to survive. Urgent steps are urgently needed to train people in handicrafts through modern training to make suitable pottery products and to create a market for these products abroad.
Meanwhile, the upazila's conscious circles and
prominent people think that market creation and necessary patronage is very important to keep the pottery industry alive.