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AyRojgar
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Mixed experienceA date palm sap tapper in Bauphal, Patuakhali, in a BSS report

Down from 30-35 trees to 16, and from 15-20 litres of sap a day to 4-6

He once tapped 30-35 date palms for 15-20 litres of sap a day; now 16 trees give 4-6. The price has risen from 50-60 taka a litre to 100-120, but the lost volume is larger than the price gain.

This gachi (sap tapper) in Bauphal upazila, Patuakhali, used to tap 30 to 35 date palms and draw 15 to 20 litres of sap a day. The district's tree stock has fallen sharply and he is now down to 16 trees producing 4 to 6 litres. The price of sap has roughly doubled to 100-120 taka a litre from 50-60, but volume has fallen faster than price has risen. Other tappers report the same pattern: one in Dashmina is down from 200-250 kg of patali gur a season to 50-70, one in Galachipa from 8-10 kg of nolen gur a day to 2-3 and cannot fill wholesale orders from Dhaka and Barishal, and one in Mirzaganj from over 30 trees to 8, with his seasonal income halved. The district has 128,035 date palms and produced 4.1 metric tons of gur last season; patali gur sells at 300-350 taka a kilo and nolen gur at 450-500.

Lessons

  1. 1.A higher unit price does not rescue a business whose raw material base is shrinking faster than the price rises
  2. 2.A trade that depends on a resource you neither own nor plant declines as that resource does, however strong demand stays

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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