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What workedSweet-makers in a confectionery village in Bogura, in a Prothom Alo report

Batasa and kadma at 140 taka a kilo, and one seller's trade spread to a whole village

Wholesale rates run at 140 taka a kg for kadma, sugar figurines and batasa, 160 for nimki, 120 for jilapi and 90 for khoi. What began in the early 1980s with one man selling sweets at local fairs has turned a Bogura village into a confectionery quarter.

Haripura village in Bogura Sadar is now known as Mithai Palli, the sweet-makers' quarter. In the early 1980s one man from the village learned the craft from wholesalers at Bagjanai Bazar in Joypurhat and began selling sweets at local fairs; neighbours copied him one by one, and the village filled with family workshops. They turn out sugar elephants, horses and fish, batasa, khoi-murki, nimki, khagdai, jilapi and kadma. Wholesale, kadma, sugar figurines and batasa go at 140 taka a kg, nimki at 160, jilapi at 120 and khoi at 90 — and those rates are what decide which line a day's sugar goes into. One of the makers says the profits bought him homestead land and paid for his house. What a workshop costs to set up, and what any one family earns in a month, the report does not say.

Lessons

  1. 1.Sugar confectionery is cheap to enter and sells through fairs and hats, which is why one seller's success could spread through a whole village
  2. 2.Knowing the wholesale rate for each line tells a maker where the day's sugar should go: 90 taka for khoi against 160 for nimki

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

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