Dumka district administration is all set to provide a grand market during Shravani Mela for Basuki Agarbatti, the home brand incense sticks made by women of the district. The administration aims sale of at least 2 lakh packets of incense sticks and a turnover of `10 lakh.
Basuki Agarbatti, an initiative of Dumka District administration to empower the women of the district, was started in 2018. The machines for making these incense sticks were set up around a month before the Shravani Mela previous year.
“We did not have stock then but still we managed to sell around 8,000 packets worth Rs. 1 lakh. This year, we have more stock and a better marketing strategy,” said Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC), Varun Ranjan.
Ranjan informed that of the total target, the administration plans to cover 75 per cent sales in Basukinath and another 25 per cent in Baba Dham at Deoghar.
“We already have around one lakh packets in our inventory and women are working on making more. Unlike previous year, when we made Rs. 10 packets with 21 incense sticks, this time we are making Rs. 5 packets with 10 sticks based on the customers’ demand. This will help increase the sale of number of packets,” Ranjan said.
The DDC informed that there is much difference this year than previous year as last year the machines were installed only a month before the Shravani Mela and the women were still in training phase. “This time the women are already trained and we have had enough time to fill up our inventory. Also, last year there was only one production centre but this year we have increased it to six,” he said.
At present, there are 35 manual and one automatic incense sticks making machines on which around 250 women work.
Every woman makes a profit of around `4,000 to `5,000 per month with giving just four hours every day into this work.
“It is not like working in a factory. They finish their household chores and then gives just four hours in the factory. This initiative is giving them an opportunity to have an income along with being able to devote time to their house,” Ranjan said.
The district administration plans to use some money from the profit and use it to buy more machines. “This way we can rope in more women in the business. At present, despite the production increasing, we are still not able to meet the demand,” DDC said.
He added, “If we rope in more women we can increase the market and also link the women with better livelihood opportunity.”