Handloom industry needs supports
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Kamal Ahmed
It is regrettable that the handloom industry, which meets about 50 per cent of fabrics' requirement of the country, is neglected. Handloom industry is next only to agriculture in creating employment in the Bangladesh countryside. More than 10 million people are directly or indirectly linked with it.
No other industry can create jobs in the country as quickly. Handloom products can be much better export earners as well. There is a big international market for ready-made garments (RMG), made of handloom fabrics. By adding value to handloom fabrics, the RMG industry can multiply earnings and also boost domestic handloom production. Fabrics, known as Grameen Check, Dhaka Check and Aarong Check produced by weavers, are good garment material for the export-oriented RMG industry. Skull caps, lungis, gamchas, bedsheets, and bedcovers made of hand woven fabrics, are exported to the Middle Eastern and the South East Asian countries. The RMG industry has unutilised potential to add value to hand woven fabrics. And the demand for handloom products is growing in the international market. But, handloom remains a neglected sector. According to recent media reports, 37.6 per cent of the handlooms in Bangladesh remain idle.
The problems facing the handlooms industry deserve focused attention from the government. Its prospects are tremendous. Apart from its potential to earn foreign currency, the handloom industry can be a large employment generator in the rural areas, where unemployment is a perennial problem.
The handloom industry can augment the earnings of the weavers who are on the fringe of the society, due to their low income. It can help provide gainful employment also to rural women who are keen to work and support their families and can thus alleviate poverty.
This industry is crippled due to lack of access to credit. The weavers have no access to institutional credit. Monthly repayment at high rates of interest make NGO credit unaffordable to the weavers.
Unless the lending rate is scaled down, with more flexible repayment schedules, micro credit would continue to be burdensome for the weavers. For a positive impact, availability of credit on a large scale on easy terms has no alternative.
Black marketing of fabrics smuggled from across the border is harming the weaving industry by putting it into undue competition. The government needs to pay attention to such problems.
It is regrettable that the handloom industry, which meets about 50 per cent of fabrics' requirement of the country, is neglected. Handloom industry is next only to agriculture in creating employment in the Bangladesh countryside. More than 10 million people are directly or indirectly linked with it.
No other industry can create jobs in the country as quickly. Handloom products can be much better export earners as well. There is a big international market for ready-made garments (RMG), made of handloom fabrics. By adding value to handloom fabrics, the RMG industry can multiply earnings and also boost domestic handloom production. Fabrics, known as Grameen Check, Dhaka Check and Aarong Check produced by weavers, are good garment material for the export-oriented RMG industry. Skull caps, lungis, gamchas, bedsheets, and bedcovers made of hand woven fabrics, are exported to the Middle Eastern and the South East Asian countries. The RMG industry has unutilised potential to add value to hand woven fabrics. And the demand for handloom products is growing in the international market. But, handloom remains a neglected sector. According to recent media reports, 37.6 per cent of the handlooms in Bangladesh remain idle.
The problems facing the handlooms industry deserve focused attention from the government. Its prospects are tremendous. Apart from its potential to earn foreign currency, the handloom industry can be a large employment generator in the rural areas, where unemployment is a perennial problem.
The handloom industry can augment the earnings of the weavers who are on the fringe of the society, due to their low income. It can help provide gainful employment also to rural women who are keen to work and support their families and can thus alleviate poverty.
This industry is crippled due to lack of access to credit. The weavers have no access to institutional credit. Monthly repayment at high rates of interest make NGO credit unaffordable to the weavers.
Unless the lending rate is scaled down, with more flexible repayment schedules, micro credit would continue to be burdensome for the weavers. For a positive impact, availability of credit on a large scale on easy terms has no alternative.
Black marketing of fabrics smuggled from across the border is harming the weaving industry by putting it into undue competition. The government needs to pay attention to such problems.