Arriving at Jayrampur station, you see rows of bicycles loaded with pots of molasses. Ask anyone and they say: "Today is the Jayrampur molasses market." Around 10am, farmers had brought earthen pots (bhar) of molasses across a wide area of the school ground, and the air was thick with the scent of nolen gur. Buyers, mostly molasses traders, broke off pieces of molasses and patali with iron rods and tasted them. Once a price was agreed, the pots were weighed and lined up on one side of the ground, and each was marked with a code.

The date palm molasses of this area is famous across the country and is even exported. Chuadanga's molasses and nolen patali are renowned, with an unmatched taste and aroma. The traditional weekly markets at Sarojganj and Jayrampur are now bustling with the trade, drawing traders and thousands of buyers and sellers from far away on market days.

The country's biggest date palm molasses market sits at Sarojganj in Chuadanga twice a week, on Friday and Saturday, the report says here. Another is held at Jayrampur village in the district's Damurhuda upazila, beside the railway station, also twice a week, on Saturday and Tuesday, with Saturday the busier. It is now the season, so the market is lively.

The market hums. Retailers and wholesalers, farmers and traders are all busy; the leaseholder is busy collecting tolls and market staff are busy with their duties. There is also a fresh vegetable market alongside. Now and then a train whistle fills the air, and porters load pots of molasses onto local trains, which will carry Chuadanga's traditional molasses to the north and south of the country.

The market starts at 8am and stays busy until 12-1pm. Then the molasses leaves for different parts of the country on trucks, vans and alamsadhu vehicles. Traders buy from small growers, and farmers and traders were seen haggling; farmers sell when they get a price that matches the quality. The traders then gather the pots, weighing them and writing codes on them first, which helps with sorting. One man involved said: "Transport, labour and other costs are added to the purchase price, and it is sent to different markets and wholesale hubs."

This is how the weight of the molasses is written on each pot. Tappers bring molasses in pots of different sizes from different villages. The famous market has been held on Saturday and Tuesday since British times, and that is why the British built Jayrampur railway station, one of the first railway stations built in the country.

Swapan, leaseholder of the Jayrampur molasses market, said: "The date palm molasses of this area is widely renowned. You can smell the fresh sap in it, so our molasses has a great reputation among traders. Many pithas are also made with molasses in winter. Traders sell the molasses they buy in winter all year round, but most of the buying and selling here happens in these 2-3 months." He also voiced a worry: "Brick kiln owners are buying date palms and burning them. Many tappers have stopped tapping trees, so molasses no longer comes to the market as it used to. In the off season there is less molasses."

Most sellers come from Chuadanga Sadar upazila, including Jayrampur, Chandpur, Ukto and Dosto. Most tap their own trees and make the molasses themselves, while some lease other people's trees to collect sap. Ala of neighbouring Kukia Chandpur helped with this information. Growers say that, counting production costs and labour, the price of molasses is low. Date palm molasses was selling wholesale at Tk 60-70 a kg.

Trader Manor Uddin goes to molasses markets across the country, including Bogura, Sarojganj, Kaliganj and Sabdarpur. He said he buys molasses here and sends it to wholesale hubs in Dhaka. The molasses from here is very famous and even goes abroad, he said. Molasses in large pots is of better quality and costs at least Tk 5 more a kg. To work out the net weight, 6 kg per maund is deducted for a large earthen pot and 7 kg per maund for a small one.

Anyone can easily reach this market beside Jayrampur station. A little way off is the country's biggest molasses market, at Sarojganj on the Chuadanga-Jhenaidah main road, which the report here says is held every Friday and Monday. You can also visit that traditional market the day before the Jayrampur market.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.