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Friday, July 23, 2004

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Number of weavers, looms declining despite govt-NGO support
7/23/2004
 

          The number of both weavers and handlooms have shrunk by thousands in the country despite the support the sector is getting from the government as well as non- government organisations (NGOs), reports BSS.
Formal and non-formal support and services for the handloom sector, the largest cottage industry that meets 40 per cent of the total domestic demand for clothes, has failed to overcome the problem.
The shortage of working capital is the main problem the weavers have been facing for decades, according to the sources of the Ministry of Textiles and Jute. The annual demand of the working capital of the weavers now stands at around Tk 2.7 billion (270 crore).
To help the weavers, the government supplied through Bangladesh Handloom Board (BHB) Tk 500 million loan to around 0.8 million weavers in a five-year scheme from 1998 but achieved slightly more than half of the target even by extending the period by one year, to current 2004, sources said.
Other organisations, like Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), BRAC and Grameen Bank also have different programmes to assist the weavers but the sector is facing gradual decay in terms of men and machines, according to the BHB.
Sources at the Ministry of the Textiles and Jute said the number of weavers, both male and female, has reduced to 0.77 million in 2003 from 1.27 million in 1990 and the handlooms also reduced by 4,000 during the period.
Textiles and Jute Minister Shahjahan Siraj said the loan distribution programme is yet to achieve the target mainly for little workforce of the BHB in comparison with the area covered by them and steps are being taken to increase the manpower.
The BHB said the ratio of its manpower and command area is 1:1100 square km while that of Grameen Bank 1:5 sq km and BRAC 1:10 sq km.
The minister said the competition between the power looms and hand looms is one of the reasons for the reduction of the number of weavers.
The government is, however, serious to protect the sector and has taken many steps to organise it as it meets the requirement of clothes of most of the citizens.
Siraj said weavers are the oldest group of workers in the country that included both men and women. A large number of victims of river erosion turn into weavers every year.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, around 8,700 hectares of land are being devoured by rivers every year leaving around 0.7 to 0.8 million people homeless.
But there is no dependable information of how many of them turned into weavers for their survival, social welfare ministry sources said.
Meanwhile, the number of waist looms, centred in the hilly regions, has increased significantly (74 thousand) though the main problems of the sector remains the same.
Handlooms also produce 63 per cent of total domestic clothes, according to the BHB sources, and value addition to the economy by handlooms is over Tk 10 billion annually.
The BHB said organising the sector for rendering services is quite difficult because the weavers are poor and scattered in wide and remote areas in rural Bangladesh.
Despite the difficulties, the BHB lends loan at the lowest interest rate with a maximum repayment time among the weavers compared to other organisations.
Quoting a survey, BHB Chairman Abdus Salam said the rate of interest of the BHB is 10 per cent and the repayment schedule is divided into 36 monthly instalments.
He said the major point of loan repayment is that it reduces progressively. For example, when a weaver pays the first instalment of the loan, the interest will be charged from the rest of the instalments.
So actually the interest rate is much less than 10 per cent, "but it has not been computed," he said.
The survey says, the rate of interest of the BRDB is 11 per cent and 8 to 18 months are scheduled for repayment, Grameen Bank and BRAC lend loans at 20 and 16 per cent interest rates. Each of the organisation's loan repayment time is less than a year or 50 weeks.

 

 
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