Bogura artisan jewellery businesses stare at losses amid pandemic

Around 30,000 artisans from 10 outlying villages of Bogura sadar upazila in Rajshahi are involved in making jewellery with about 66 per cent of them being women and youths who earn between Tk 500 to Tk 4,000 each week from the trade.

Around 10,000 women from Dharampur, Atapara, Fulbari, Baropur, Moglishpur, Jhopgari, Joypurpara, Shikarpur, Joytika, Ashorpur villages were involved in making cigarette filters just 15 years ago, according to local jewellery traders and makers.

Now though, they craft artisan jewellery at their homes and earn a good amount of money every week, they said.

Besides, some 5,000 youths (mostly girls) also earn roughly Tk 500-1,000 weekly from the trade, which helps them live better, they added.

During a visit to these villages on November 28, this reporter found that the women and youth from almost each and every household was involved in making artisan jewellery.

"Ten years ago, I used to make cigarette filters and fill them with tobacco at home," said Ranjana Begum, an artisan of Baropur village.

At that time, women were paid Tk 10 to make 1,000 filters.

"But now, by working as a craftsman of artisan jewellery for a nearby trader, I have been getting Tk 2,000-4,000 weekly for the last 10 years," she added.

Similarly, Rina Khatun, an artisan of Dharampur village, said she earns Tk 1,000-1,200 each week for the ornaments.

"This business changed our lives. Now, 2,000-3,000 women of my village have become self-reliant through the trade," Khatun added.

The youths in these areas are also earning a living by crafting ornaments at home and are subsequently able to contribute to their families, said Saidul Islam, a jewellery trader of Dharampur village.

Khushi Akter, an 11th grade student aged 17, said during her off-time, she makes artisan jewellery from home.

"I earn Tk 500-600 each week and spend for my own purposes," Akter said, adding that there are around 400-500 boys in the area who do the same.

The business is slowly growing in value and is currently worth about Tk 37 crores annually.

The country's artisan jewellery industry took off just 25 years ago on the outskirts of Dharampur, when the goldsmiths started making some small-sized copper ornaments along with gold.

The business eventually spread across the adjacent 10 villages, said Md Zakir Hossain, secretary of Dharampur Shop Owners' Samity.

Several varieties of artisan ornaments are made in the area with most of the raw materials—such as copper and brass—being imported from India.

Over the last 10 to 15 years, many gold jewellery showrooms have turned into artisan shops while many goldsmiths have shifted to crafting antiques as the price of gold stared rising in the country.

Besides, many traders who lost a lot of capital on the gold business are the main clients of local artisan jewellery makers in Bogura, according to local traders. Various retailers, hawkers come to Bogura every day to buy antiquities for more major markets.

Women from all over the country are even selling the artisan artisan jewellery trough online shopping portals, Hossain said.

There are over 500 small-scale antique jewellery factories and around 200 showrooms in Bogura sadar upazila.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, the traders of these areas collectively sold around Tk 10 lakh worth of antique ornaments each day.

If you add the traders of all 10 villages, the business is worth about Tk 36.5 crore, he said, adding that the craft is passed down from older generations or learnt from nearby factories.

Shahidul Islam Shakil, an antique ornament retailer of Dharampur bazar, said he began his business in 2008.

He now has two factories, which employ about 100 men and women.

"Before the pandemic, I used to sell antique ornaments worth Tk 25-30 lakh to traders from Dhaka and Chattogram. Now though I barely make half as many sales," Shakil added.

According to the local artisans and traders, antique jewellery business in Bogura was shattered by the Covid-19 fallout as sales have almost halved.

Subsequently, wages were also cut in half, which pushed many to shift to other occupations.

In a bid to cope with the ongoing crisis, both small and big businesses related to the industry are taking loans from different non-governmental organisations (NGO) to pay artisans and keep their businesses afloat.

"Amid the pandemic, the price of raw copper and brass imported from India increased by Tk 200-600 per kilogramme," Shakil said.

"To keep my business alive, I had to take a loan from the Brac at a very high interest rate. Now I have to pay an instalment of around Tk 97,000 each month and due to the low orders, I had to lay off half the artisans at my factories," he added.

Saju Sheikh, a trader of Ulirbazar, had set up a factory where antique jewellery was gold-electroplated.

He had invested Tk 17 lakh to build the facility in 1992 and used to make a profit of about Tk 2-4 lakh monthly.

But due to the Covid-19 fallout, the demand for ornaments fell significantly while the price of raw materials continued to rise.

"Therefore, I am left counting losses," Saju said.

The labourers and artisans are the worst victims of the Covid-19 fallout, according to the secretary of the Dharampur Shop Owners' Samity.

Over the last 20-25 years, many people got involved in the antique jewellery making business but now they are being forced into other professions as they lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.

"When the epidemic hit Bangladesh in March, our factories were shut for two months and many artisans changed their profession to survive while others keep hoping to see better days soon," Zakir added.

"I had my own business before the pandemic but I have lost all my capital over the last 7 months and now work as a craftsman at someone else's factory," said Mukter Hossain, a small antiques trader.

Zakir and several other traders said the ongoing pandemic has cost them dearly but the government has done nothing to make the situation easier for them.

Market players even went to the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to get low-cost and easy bank loans.

"But we did not get a positive response," Zakir added.

When contacted, Zahedul Islam, deputy general manager of the BSCIC office in Bogura, said a few days ago, local antique traders asked for easy loan and incentives.

"I told them to follow some procedures to get government incentives but they are not bound (not eager) to do that," he said.

However, the Bangladeshi antique jewellery market is shrinking since it cannot compete with the imitation jewellery made in China and India.

If the government can help set up modern technologies and ban Indian and Chinese imitation jewellery from Bangladesh, then the local antique jewellery business will thrive, said trader Shakil.