Handloom weavers struggling to survive

The handloom industry, which is a major source of earning for many rural people, is passing through hard times.
Low wage coupled with lack of capital from the government, the handloom weavers are today struggling for survival. They are now forced to shift to other professions, insiders said.
They said weavers are withdrawing from traditional handlooms due to a lack of necessary capital. The picture of the handloom industry is the same in every part of the country.
About 0.129 million handlooms were closed down (made inactive) over the last three decades due to fund crisis, throwing over 0.10 million weavers out of employment, according to the BHB (Bangladesh Handloom Board) data.
Over 11 million people are employed in the handloom industry, which meets nearly 50 per cent of the country's fabric requirement, the data said.
Value addition by the handloom sector stands at Tk 10 billion. It meets over 40 per cent of domestic textile requirement, accounting for 63 per cent of textile production. The handloom industry meets the common people's requirements for saris, lungis, bed sheets and the like, they said.
The BHB disbursed Tk 597 million for 52,508 handlooms until January last, the BHB data showed.
There are over 0.5 million handlooms in the country according to the handloom census of 2003. Of the amount, some 0.129 million are outmoded till date, sources said.
"We are trying our best to revive the country's handloom industry. BHB provides microcredit to the weavers according to government directive," General Manager of BHB Hafiz Uddin told the FE Saturday.
"We started over 50,000 inactive handlooms through microcredit programme again. The programme is going on. The government will take new steps to develop the sector," he said.
"Lack of capital is one of the key reasons behind closing down of a significant number of handlooms in the country," Marfat Ali, an inactive handloom owner of Delduar upazila under Tangail district told the FE.
"I will be able to start my inactive handloom again if I get a fund support from the government," he said.  
Presently, the major problem of the industry is that the weavers do not get adequate wages for their labour. A senior weaver earns about Tk 2,600 to Tk 3,500 per month. Junior weavers get much less, around Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000. As a result many weavers do not want their children to come to this profession, a competent source of BHB said.
Replacement of the labour-intensive handloom factories by mechanised power looms has created a serious problem of unemployment in handloom sector of the country. Besides, illegal marketing of different fabrics is responsible for the decline of country's traditional handloom industry, he said.
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