Weavers in Narsingdi are facing hurdles to maintain their families and the handloom industries are on the verge of closure due to high prices of raw materials including yarn, dyes and chemicals.
The gradual decreases of demands of their products and lack of running capital have threatened the profession and livelihood of the people depended on the industry.
Many weavers are going through hardships to maintain their families and trying to leave their ancestral profession because of low income.
Narsingdi, a district in the north west of the capital, Dhaka, is one of the main weaving hubs for the industrial weaving production of the country.
The district specially Sadar and Raipura upazila are famous for producing different artistic sarees such as Jamdani, Katan and Bruket. Main producing areas also include Rasulpur, Karimpur, Jitrampur, Algi, Chawla, Hajipur, Satirpara, Bhagdi, Patchdona and Madobdee.
Different lungi, saree, bed sheet, napkin, towel and mosquito nets are also produced here.
According to Bangladesh Bureau Of Statistics (BBS), there were 3,141 factories in the district in 2011. In the factories, there were 12,238 looms. Of those 5,380 were in operation and 6,858 remained non-operational.
Meanwhile, the industry employed a total of 7, 387 people of 2,967 families, the BBS said.
Officials at the unit office of Bangladesh Handloom Board in Narsingdi, however, said there are 26,693 handlooms in the district. Of those, only 14,845 are in operation.
A total of 7,247 weavers are engaged in the industry in the district, they said.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many weavers said the prices of the cloth production and finishing charge have increased in proportion to the rise in the prices of yarn, dyes, chemicals, dying charge and labour cost.
They are forced to sell their produced goods by incurring huge losses as the selling cost has not increased proportionally, they said.
“I am doing this job of my ancestors only because I do not have any other alternative. This [weaving] is the only thing what I can do. So, I cannot take any other job,” said Dhon Mia, a weaver of Charsubudhi Madhyapara in Raipura upazila.
Unlike Dhon Mia, many weaver are trying to find out different ways of their livelihoods. They are not much nostalgic of their ancestral profession, rather honing different skills.
“We have been defeated to the huge capital and modern technologies. Now, people do not buy our handmade products,” said Bajlu Mia, a weaver of the same village.
“Now I am working as a day-laborer. I do not like the job. But it is the only way of my survival,” he said.
Like Bajlu, many weavers are earning their livelihood by pulling rickshaw van or peddling rickshaw and driving auto-rickshaw or other vehicles.
“I have shut all of my looms due huge losses I incurred in the past years. We the weavers are leading an inhumane life,” Hasim Mia, a weaver of the same village.
In 1981, the Handloom Board in Narsingdi had established a training institute at Saheprotabhab for professional development of the weavers in the area. Many youth used to find their jobs after taking training from the institute.
Md AB Siddique, a liaison officer at the Handloom Board in Narsingdi, said the handloom industry is lagging behind the competition with power looms.
“We are trying to keep sustain the handloom industry by providing the weavers with necessary loans,” he said.
“Under a project, we have disbursed more than Tk3.22crore among 2501 weavers since 2000 till date,” he added.
Many weavers, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that the poor people did not get the loan assistance from the handloom board, although it distributed crores of taka among rich weavers in the area.
