Machine muri at 60-70 taka, chemical-free muri at 160-200

Across seven villages in Ishwardi, Pabna, hundreds of women have for thirty years fried muri from dheki-husked rice using nothing but salt and water, backed by UBINIG and the Nayakrishi Andolon. Instead of competing on price the product is positioned as safe and distinct, and that is where the gap opens: machine-made packet muri sells at 60-70 taka a kg, while this muri fetches 160 taka locally and 200 in Dhaka and Chattogram supershops. One woman who has been frying for thirty years earns 15,000 taka a month from the work alone. The area makes about 25 maunds a day in total, one chatal owner frying roughly two and a half maunds himself, and 2,100 kg went from a single location after Ramadan began. The muri is sold on to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Europe, America and Britain, with demand rising in the hajj season.