Nilphamari budget furniture market a bustling success

Every Tuesday and Friday, Dhelapir Haat, a flourishing rural market in Nilphamari Sadar upazila alongside the Nilphamari to Saidpur road, springs to life. Thousands of market goers from surrounding villages and further afield throng the shops and stalls in search of a bargain. The market's specialty is furniture. It's here that rural carpenters cater to the needs of those on a tight budget.

Market-goer Salimuddin, 60, is a smallholder farmer from Sonarai village whose daughter recently married. “I've just bought a decorative double bed made of banyan wood for Tk 4,000 and a clothes rack for Tk 1,500 for my new son-in-law,” he says.

Hirombo Roy, 35, from Khata Modhupur village, meanwhile, has been driving a rickshaw in Dhaka for extra income. “I've managed to build a tin roof house,” he explains, “and now I need furniture to decorate it nicely. Today I'm looking for an almirah, some chairs and a table.”

Furniture at Dhelapir Haat is often made of non-traditional, inexpensive timbers including banyan, kadam, Indian tulip, cluster fig and other wild-growing species. Carpentry work is often completed in informal workshops that rely on family labour to keep costs down.

“Carpenters reach this market from different parts of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Nilphamari,” says market toll collector Abdul Huque. “Furniture prices range from Tk 200 to Tk 6,000 according to category, design, size and colour.”

Furniture maker Moksedul Islam, 45, from Botlagari village has brought eight showcases to the market to sell. “I made all of these pieces in just eight days,” he says, “which was only possible because my wife helped me. Each piece cost around Tk 1,200 to make and I expect to sell it for Tk 1,500.”

Another carpenter, Rafiqul Islam from Ranir Bandor village favours the market as he has no showroom. “I don't have any capital to open a furniture showroom in town,” he says.

“I make cheap furniture at home instead and sell it here. I make a decent living.” One drawback of the market, about which buyers and sellers agree, is the poor state of the surrounding rural roads which makes carting furniture to and fro difficult, and adds to transportation costs.

For the local administration the market is important. “In this area, the government earns its highest revenue from the Dhelapir market,” says the additional deputy commissioner for revenue in Nilphamari collectorate, Mojibur Rahman. “We have a plan for significant development of this market.”