Dense fog is now seen every morning in Chuadanga and other parts of rural Bangladesh which shows the indication of the winter season. The winter is knocking at the door with the presence of dew, frosty weather and fog on the grass every morning,
In this time, date juice extractors, locally known as ‘Gachhi’, are passing busy time to clean the juice collecting areas of the date trees, known as ‘Chach’ using sharp weapons, in Chuadanga.
Shafiqul Islam, a Gachi from Boalia village under Nehalpur Union of Chuadanga, told the Bangladesh Post that he already completed cleaning 20 date trees up to Thursday.
He said that he will collect date juice from about a 100 date trees for producing molasses (Gur) this year and he expects to earn Tk 1,00,000 by selling that in about three months in this winter.
Habibur Rahman Hoby, another Gachi from the same village said, there are at least 3,000 date trees in the village. Azizur Rahman Mollik, Sirajul Islam Mondal, Sattar, Motiar, Khabir, Nil Chand, Azgar, Saiful, Jhontu are some of the well known Gachi of the village.
Mohammad Ali Hasan, Deputy Director of Chuadanga Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), said about 2,46,960 date trees are being cleaned for juice extraction in 15 days. Then the extractors will collect the date juice and prepare molasses from it for selling.
He told the Bangladesh Post that there have been implied no restrictions in producing date molasses in the areas due to the ongoing corona pandemic yet.
According to District DAE, there are 2,46,960 date trees in four upazilas of Chuadanga and most of them are in Chuadanga Sadar and Damurhuda upazila.
Meanwhile, the extractors of the areas are busy cleaning the top area of the date trees for collecting date juice.
On the other hand, local blacksmiths and potters are busy making sharp weapons and jars used for date juice collection.
