Chira (flattened rice) mill

About the business

A chira mill turns paddy into flattened rice. Sand is heated in a big pan over a furnace, paddy is poured into the hot sand, and as soon as it starts to pop the whole lot goes into a sieve and the sand is shaken out. The paddy then goes through a round machine and comes out as chira, and a final sieving clears the husk. There are two kinds of mill and the arithmetic is different for each. The village mill flattens the farmer's own paddy for a fee by the kilo - at Asaduzzaman's mill at Dugdugi haat in Ghoraghat, Dinajpur the rate was Tk 8 a kg, so five kilos of paddy cost the farmer Tk 40. That mill runs two days a week, on haat days, and is busiest in the Aman and Boro paddy seasons. The other kind buys paddy, makes chira and sends it to the wholesale market. Chira was retailing at Tk 70-72 a kg at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka, while Kaliakoir's famous 'Dhanir chira' in Gazipur sells at Tk 400-500. The advantage of chira is that it does not spoil, and demand comes from three directions: iftar in Ramadan, flood relief, and everyday breakfast. During the 2024 floods chira and muri were selling at Karwan Bazar before the trucks could be unloaded and the price rose Tk 4-5 a kg in a week. The risk is fuel: when the furnace and the machine both stop, so does production.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• A furnace and a large pan, sand, a coarse sieve, the round flattening machine, a husk sieve and scales.Equipment
• Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
• Bangladesh Food Safety Authority registration, compulsory for packaged food producers under the Food Safety (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2026: Tk 1,000 new, Tk 500 renewal, valid three years. Whether a mill that only flattens a farmer's own paddy needs it was not confirmed and must be checked with the authority.Licence
• Judging the sand's heat and the moment to lift the paddy. Too long and the chira crumbles; too little and it stays hard.Skill
• A paddy supply. At a village mill the farmer brings his own, but making chira to sell means a relationship with a paddy arot.Supplier
• A roadside shed beside the haat with somewhere for the smoke to go, and a dry corner for sacks of paddy.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Take a place beside the haat or on the road to it. Farmers will not carry a sack of paddy far.
2. 2Fix your running days by the haat days. The Ghoraghat mill runs Friday and Tuesday because those are the haat days.
3. 3Take the trade licence from the union parishad or municipality, and get food processing named on it as the trade.
4. 4If you will pack and sell under your own name, take Bangladesh Food Safety Authority registration: Tk 1,000 new, Tk 500 renewal, valid three years.
5. 5Build the furnace and the big pan and arrange the sand. Heating the sand is the heart of the job.
6. 6Install the round flattening machine and the sieve for husk. You also need room to shake the sand out through a jhanjhar.
7. 7Keep two workers: one on the furnace handling sand and paddy, one shaking out sand and feeding the machine.
8. 8Set the milling charge by the kilo and put it on the board. At Ghoraghat it was Tk 8 a kg.
9. 9Prepare separately for the Aman and Boro harvests, when farmers flatten a year's supply at once.
10. 10Plan for fried chira before Ramadan: it sold at Tk 120 a kg in the Lalmonirhat iftar market.
11. 11Hold stock through the flood season. In the 2024 floods the goods were gone at Karwan Bazar before the trucks were unloaded.
12. 12Line up a fuel alternative. Chira and muri production has stopped before because of gas shortages.

Sources

• List of 315 Products Brought Under Mandatory Certification Marks Wing

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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