A 7,500-taka batch returns 2,300, and a bag-making village falls from 550 families to 35

Dakshin Nagar Kasba in Mirkadim, Munshiganj - known to everyone as Kagojipara, the paper quarter - once had more than 550 of its 600 families making paper bags; 30-35 remain. This fourth-generation maker, now 39, learned the work from his mother at the age of 11, when 20-22 craftsmen worked alongside her. The arithmetic is still simple: 60 kg of paper yields 70 kg of bags, the paper costs 6,000 taka and labour, transport and sundries 1,500, a total of 7,500; 70 kg at 140 taka a kg brings 9,800, leaving 2,300 taka of profit. But the season is only March to June, when 60 maunds a month sell for 3.5 lakh taka, and about 4 lakh taka of profit earned in those four months has to cover all twelve. Polythene was banned 22 years before the report, yet the law went unenforced and polythene still owns the market; one trader's Dhaka outlets have fallen from seven to three. The raw material base has shrunk too: imported multi-layer cement sacks have disappeared, leaving only milk-powder packets at 18-20 taka each, five or six to the kilo. He expects to be the last generation and will not bring his children into the trade.