Arshed Ali's Kaun (Foxtail Millet) Rice

About

Arshed Ali (68) of Telipara in Kajoldighi-Kaliaganj union, Boda upazila of Panchagarh, is known locally as the seller of kaun (foxtail millet) rice, a traditional grain of the north. He used to be a day labourer; in 2008, hearing from his brother-in-law about demand for kaun in Dhaka, he bought a maund of it, and although he could not send it to Dhaka he has bought and sold kaun rice ever since. Every day he sits with a large bowl and scales at the district's markets, for example at night in front of a fruit shop beside the Panchagarh Bazar Jame Mosque market; buyers take half a kilo to a kilo. He goes round several markets to buy kaun at Tk 1,800-1,900 a maund, dries it and has it milled, getting 23-24 kg of rice per maund at a milling charge of Tk 4 per kg. Fifteen years ago the rice sold for Tk 40 a kg; now he sells it for Tk 180. After costs he earns Tk 300-400 a day on average, and with his younger son he also farms two bigha of sharecropped land.

Products and services

• Kaun (foxtail millet) rice

  Tk 180 / kg

  For payesh and rice; 2023 price

Prices as given by the owner; ask before you buy.

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