For most of the year, 60-year-old Jahangir Alam works in a factory making aluminum utensils. But every Eid, he changed his profession and became a seamstress.
This resident of Bogra has been working as a seasonal worker in Semai factory for the past 20 years. He earns well in this work.
He said, ‘The work is done on a large scale for a month and a half in view of the Ramadan month and Eid-ul-Fitr. At this time I earn about 70 thousand taka.
He is not alone. A large number of seasonal workers join factories in Bogra on contractual basis when the demand for semai increases during Eid.
According to local estimates, around 500 crore tk. worth of Semai is produced during the Eid season in Bogra and other districts of the north.
Bogra’s local semai industry has earned a reputation for its quality across the country and beyond. In recent years, the Semai of this district is also going to the Middle East.
Businessmen said that more than 26 thousand 200 metric tons of semai were produced in the northern districts in this campaign which started 15 days before fasting. Out of this, 16 districts of the region produced Tk 340 crore worth of branded semai and Tk 200 crore worth of non-branded semai.
At least 170 factories in the district produce Semai during the Eid season. According to the information of Bangladesh Bread, Biscuit and Confectionery Manufacturers Association of Uttarbanga Parishad, the number of factories involved in this business in the northern districts has exceeded two and a half.
These products are supplied to different districts of the country including Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal and Sylhet.
In recent years, Semai produced in Bogra is being exported to Middle East countries on a small scale to satisfy the local demand.
Hasan Ali Alal, Chairman of Bogra’s 100-year-old Akbaria Group, said that during the Eid season, one-third of the total production of Semai is produced in the district. The group has been exporting semai to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen for the past few years.
He said, ‘We are trying to occupy the market of those countries. If various government policies related to exports are relaxed, it will be possible to earn a large amount of foreign exchange by exporting semai.’
There are 10 factories of different brands in Bogra that produce Semai round the year. The rest are mainly produced during the Eid season.
Rustam Ali, a senior semai craftsman at Khawaja Confectionery, which produces semai for local brand Royal, said the company employs 40 workers. Workers in each factory are divided into groups of 8–12 people. Each team can prepare about 12 sacks of flour semai per day.
Some of the workers work in these semai factories during the Eid season expecting higher wages than their regular jobs. After the end of Eid, when the demand decreases, they go back to other professions. Others work on contractual basis during Eid and on monthly salary basis during the rest of the year.
Due to the high reputation of Semai in Bogra, the local industry is also attracting many new entrepreneurs.
