Keeping the tradition of Pata molasses alive

A few days back, I went to Gayeshpur village, situated at Muktagachha upzila's Dullah union in Mymensingh district. In four unions of Muktagachha, among eleven farmers grow sugarcanes in massive numbers. The main crop here is sugarcane, which takes a year to produce. They also cultivate boro rice in the low lying lands. As there is no sugar mill here, farmers produce gur (molasses) from sugarcane.

In Kushtia, Jessore, Narail and other districts, farmers used to make pata gur. But, this tradition has been over time. In Dullah union's villages, including Gayeshpur, farmers carry the age-old tradition of pata gur. In recent times, they cannot make profit from gur and sugarcane is a long-term crop. As the profits have decreased, farmers are stepping away from sugarcane farming. The sugarcane lands are now replaced by cassava, baukul (bau-plum). Due to absence of irrigation facility, farmers are moving away from sugarcane farming. They're also growing strawberries here nowadays. Today, I will tell you the story about farmers who make pata gur.

In Ramakana village of Dullah union, I saw farmers extracting juice from sugarcane and then boiling it. This busy schedule during the early dawn is a common practice here. Outside Dullah union, there is no one producing molasses like this anywhere nearby. In this season, under this union, there are 22 open-yards (Khola) for making molasses. All the makers of molasses come from Jessore, Kushtia and Sirajganj districts. They are responsible for necessary tools and production of molasses. They charge Tk. 12 per KG under a contract with the farmers and the rest of the profit goes to the sugarcane farmers. Although this is a tradition of the region, the sad news is the production process is not entirely pure and healthy. Observing a farmer boiling juice, I noticed some dangerous elements being mixed with the molasses.

"Why is the colour is like this?"

"It's white… as you can see."

"What do you mix in it to make it white?"

"Hydros…soda."

 "Why do you mix hydros?"

"To make the boiling more effective."

Farmers say they can't make profit like they used to make in the past.

"We can't make good profits from gur business like we used to."

"Where is the main costs you think?"

"Hydros and soda prices are really high along with high labourer costs."

"Per KG price of gur in the market is Tk. 32.50. If it's above Tk. 40, we can make some profit."

Are they mixing these unsafe elements just for profit? There is no answer to this. There is no one who has tried to inform the farmers regarding this so far. This process carries on as the farmers barely know about the fatal impact of this on public health. While we were in conversation, the juice boiling was complete. Now they'll proceed to pouring the molasses into a wood frame.

From 216 KGs of juice, farmers make 45 KGs of pata gur. From 13.5 half tins of juice, they get one korai (tray). Each tin weigh 16 KGs. In each korai they get 45 KGs of gur. Shah Ali came from Sirajganj with all his extraction equipments under contract. I had a quick chat with him. "Four people get Tk. 32,000 as monthly salary. We need one litre petrol for boiling the juice in one korai. Each tray costs Tk. 3,000 and we have three trays which cost Tk. 9,000. We have to pay a truck rent of Tk. 2,000. I can earn a profit of about Tk. 500."

"From one tray?"

"No, from one day."  

I can remember a farmer from Manikganj's Singair who never used chemicals in making molasses. He used the extracted sticky juice from a plant, instead of hydros. That juice makes the gur hygienic. These technologies must be spread across the country in order to protect the consumers. I reached another khola at Gayeshpur village in Dullah union. Perhaps many of you know this khola or the entire arrangement of making gur is locally known as, 'Gaachh'. Farmers were busy in making gur here. I spoke with the farmers and producers of gur in Gayeshpur.

"Last season, per KG price was between Tk. 35 to Tk. 42. Now it has fallen," said a farmer. "The production cost is all the same but we can't make profits," said another.

Many farmers of this region have stepped out of sugarcane farming. Many have started alternative crops in single crop lands. Alauddin has built baukul, mango and litchi orchards in most of his lands. He's now making more profit from other crops by decreasing dependence on sugarcane.

"I used to produce sugarcane, mustard seed and other crops."

"Why did you leave sugarcane farming?"

"The price we get is really low. That doesn't go with my high production cost."

Dear readers, I found two realities. Farmers are not following healthy rules for making traditional pata gur from sugarcane juice. And, many farmers have left sugarcane farming as they can't make profit these days. These farmers have started doing alternative crops and high-value crops on their single crop land.

First of all, farmers and traders say the customers and market want white gur that's why they're forced to mix hydros, soda, dalda and fertilizer. If you don't mix anything in the gur, the colour will turn red. White gur is almost always mixed with chemicals and those are unhealthy. This is really harmful to health. The urban customers should know about this before the farmers. Public campaigns, backed by public and private initiatives, should be run to raise awareness on these issues.

Secondly, in the face of low price in the market, farmers are stepping away from the long-term crop, sugarcane. The locals believe, by the next five years or so, there will be no sugarcane farming in this region. Vegetables and high-value crops will take the place of sugarcane. Considering the need for farmers to make a profit to maintain their livelihood, this thinking might is inevitable and must be applied in this region so that farmers can have a better and sustainable life in future.