MADARIPUR, Jan 4: All the haats and bazaars in four upazilas of the district have been flooded with patali gur (solid molasses) this winter.
The molasses is prepared from date juice, and Madaripur is famous for this type of molasses.
The date juice extractors locally called gachhis are passing busy times in their job now.
Date juice is very tasty and available in winter. It is used to make several sweet dishes, said Amena Bibi, 65, an elderly woman of Char Janajat area in Shibchar Upazila.
An extractor Ilias Matbor said per kilogram molasses is now selling at Tk 130 to 150 in local markets.
Moreover, vendors are moving from house to house to sell raw date juice in the morning.
Some others make patali gur and jhola gur (soft molasses) by boiling date juice and sell those at local markets.
A source at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Madaripur said there are about 50,000 date trees on 150 hectares of land in the district. This year's date juice production target is 1,000 metric tons. A total of 140 MT of molasses will be produced from this juice.
There are 10,000 date trees in Shibchar, 10,000 in Kalkini, 8,000 in Rajoir, and 12,000 in Sadar upazilas, said the source said adding that most of the trees are on roads, homesteads and land boundary areas.
The source also said, on an average, 15 to 20 kg molasses is obtained from each date tree during the season.
Deputy Director of Madaripur DAE M A Gafur said the date trees have been decreasing day by day as those are used as firewood in brickfields despite government ban.
