Blacksmiths busy making slaughtering tools

FE Team | Published: July 07, 2022 23:49:13

NETRAKONA, July 07 (BSS): Several hundreds of blacksmiths in the district are passing busy times making sharp tools to be used for slaughtering sacrificial animals on the holy Eid-ul-Azha.
Reports said that many people are crowding to the shops of blacksmiths for manufacturing different iron made tools including machetes, choppers, knives, spade, axe and scissors.
Many people are also having their old equipment repaired and sharpened by blacksmiths.
Blacksmiths are now selling a knife at Taka 300 to 400, a chopper at Tk 350 to 600, a machete at Tk 400 to 800 and a spade at Taka 300 to 500.
Talking to the news agency, over a dozen of blacksmiths of the district town and its adjoining areas said that the demand for their products increases ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Azha but its demand goes fall significantly after the Eid festival.
They can earn profit during the Eid-ul-Azha season but they become almost jobless after the Eid festival, they said.
They drew the attention of the state-run commercial banks for giving them loan to expand their business to make modern equipment.
Some octogenarian blacksmiths of the Satpai area in the district town informed that their business was very profitable over three decades ago when there was tremendous demand for iron-made tools and equipment including sharp ploughs, spades, knives, sickles and spikes on the wheels of cattle-driven cart and axes.
However now, the demand of those iron-made tools and equipment has decreased due to introduction of mechanical ploughs, tractors, power tillers, harvesters and many others steel-made modern equipment, they said.
In the wake of the present situation, many blacksmiths, who used to earn their livelihood by manufacturing the iron-tools and agricultural equipment, are now opting for other professions, they added.