Editorial
Taking a good slice of the handicraft bonanza
All we need is focused, determined and organised effort
A columnist of Star Business writing out an impassioned appeal for a boost to textile handicrafts has helped fire the imagination to build up on her theme by way of editorialisation.
Essentially, as the global recession pans out rather inexorably with its knock-on effects starting to translate into lessened orders for our RMG products and a dip in remittance earnings we are having to think up newer avenues for export diversification. Therefore, prospects in tiles export are being vigorously talked about in the light of headway already made in this area. But we believe, it's the whole range of hand-made products that have a huge, largely untapped, potential to generate foreign currency earnings that would stand us in good stead through the economic meltdown phase leading up to an export-led growth we have always dreamt of.
One derives two ironical messages from the handicrafts situation in Bangladesh. First, handicrafts constitute only one percent of exports from Bangladesh whereas its bigger cousin garments account for 75 percent of the country's export. Secondly, our one percent contribution to the global handicrafts market valued at US$ 100 billion is evidently just a speck. In other words, we have a plenty of scope to penetrate the world market of handicrafts, especially given the fact that we have had a very rich legacy of traditional crafts that have basically fallen in disuse over time.
Thus, the first imperative is to revive some of the old crafts like handlooms with latent potential for catering to foreign demands; the second task is to replicate the successes achieved in the existing crafts, such as the famous embroidery work nakshi kantha; and the third one relates to acquiring design and fashion driven skills to feed the changing tastes in the global handicrafts market.
The emphasis should be on organising disparate groups of craftsmen and women, as far as practicable, under the umbrella of cooperatives. Apart from providing microcredit support, the crafts and trades that have grown bigger as medium and smaller enterprises would need working capital support from banks that would also see them through to the export phase. The development partners, multilateral financing agencies, international and local NGOs and elected local bodies could forge a common ground some along the line to assist the sector.
Handicraft is our way to reduce poverty, increase rural employment and empower women. The other handsome dividends are sustainable niche market in global economy, steadied forex earning and a good name for Bangladesh as a culture-driven developing economy.
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