THE RESOURCE STRUCTURE
II. Dhankura's Share in Regional Trade
vegetables, rice, and bamboo. Only the top categories can fully exercise their option to use the specialised markets. The lower categories are not free to choose the time, day, or volume of sale.
So although the top categories sell 80% of their rice in Barobhuya, the lower categories sell only 45%.
Saturia ( 6 miles away) was, historically, the wholesale centre for the region, It has been by-passed in importance by Manikganj town with the introduction of the Dhaka-Aricha road. Once a week, there is still a wholesale market in grocery and stationery at Saturia. About one-third of the grocery and stationery purchased by Dhankura residents is purchased there And one-half of the blacksmiths' products are sold at Saturia. Kalampur (5 miles away) is not only a specialised market for cattle, it is the site as well for the government's jute procurement centre. The trade of the jute furia and the sale by private producers of jute will be dis- cussed below. Only a few traders go further than Saturia, one to sell bamboo craft at weekly hat in Savar (28 miles) and some to purchase rice from Nayarhat and fruit from Aricha (19 miles).
Manikganj is the market town for the region. One Hindu, a surplus farmer, runs a permanent shop in Manikganj. Several itinerant traders and permanent shop proprietors buy their stock wholesale on credit from Manikganj.
other people of the region, nor will we be able to measure the turn- over of Dhankura traders against other traders in the region. But we should be able to see a pattern in Dhankura's trade for a profit and purchases for consumption needs.
Even deficit households sell rice to meet immediate expenses.
Rice is bought and sold in several places, the least amount in Dhankura bazaar and the most at Barobhuya and Coitta hats on the available days. As the lower categories sell to meet immediate needs, their volume of sale is not high but their number of transactions is high. They see, therefore, no distinct advantage to trading rice at the specialised market, Barobhuya. Whereas the upper categories sell most of their rice ( 80% ) at Barobhuya, the lower categories sell only 45% there. The surplus and medium are able to hold out and select the market and price.
Perishables are sold daily at the nearest possible bazaar or hat: therefore the point of sale for perishables are distributed widely and not concentrated in any one specialised hat. The bulk of vegetables (70%) and milk (90%) sold and fish purchased by Dhankura residents is at the Dhankura bazaar. Fishermen communities sell their catch at a specialised market which convenes in the very early morning. Fish exchanged within the region is purchased from the specialised market and sold hat to hat or bazaar to bazaar.
It should be noted that in the top categories women control the sale of what is their preserve in production: vagetables, poultry, and dairy. Because households in these categories are not pressed for immediate needs on the sale of these items, the women are able to market these items either directly in the village or through young boys in the market. The advantage to the women in controlling the sale is that they are able to pocket the profit for their private "tills". But households from the lower categories cannot save but must maximise on sale price, so the lower category women do not control the sale of what they produce.
Poultry and vegetable furia canvass the region village to village and market to market in part because of the women's desire to sell directly within the village. The vegetable furia of Dhankura operate on a very small scale. They supplement their income from working their own fields or as daily labourers with a small volume of trade. They collect village to village and sell at hats or bazaars. Poultry furia operate on a slightly expanded volume of trade and profit. Indeed, one poultry furia from Dhankura, financed in part by a wholesaler in Dhaka, sells directly to markets in Dhaka The furia's sphere of collection and marketing and volume of trade depends on capital available, mobility, links to the hierarchy of furia and arotdar, and the availability of produce.
The jute furia are not as poor as other furia: The jute furia are financed by one or another central men at the government procurement centre to whom they promise to sell all jute procured from the villages. At the time of jute harvest, the furia are to roam the villages to persuade the cultivator: "Hey, brother give me your jute. Sell it to me now as the government may well lower prices".
Moreover, they offer government rates even within the village as they regularly falsify the jute weight. The furia counts one maund of jute yield 1 maund 5 seers of jute by adding water and dust.
This then is their ploy; to offer government prices within the village. Indeed, only the large and influential jute cultivators really avail government prices at the government procurement centre. At the government centre, the koil or weigher must be bribed to get the proper weight and there is often a delay in payment. The furia bribe regularly and are not so affected by delayed payments as individual cultivator. So most jute is sold to furia and not to a government procurement centre.
With items which are sold into the region even on a limited scale (salt, matches, kerosene oil), the points of sale are widely distributed for convenient purchase: small permanent shops either at hats or in bazaars. With items which are sold out but not extensively purchased within the region, the points of sale are specialised centres (Coitta for winter crops: Dhankura bazaar for
vegetables and milk). With perishables or rice sold to meet immediate expenses the points of sale are widely distributed to allow for a daily turn-over.
We have seen then where the Dhankura producer retails or wholesales his produce, and we have seen the pattern of operation of the furia. Now we must see how many from Dhankura go into what type and level of trading. Residents from Dhankura pursue the following types of trade:
Permanent shops — 4 dealership ( oil ) — 1
hat merchants — 2
furia — 4
sub-furia — 4
itinerant traders — 16 home businesses ;
grocery — 1
paddy-husking — 6
stock — 3
other — 3
Most of these traders share the regional markets with other traders of the same type. Only one holds a monopoly, the oil dealer. Dhankura partakes in two levels of middlemanship: the small-scale, self-financed sub-furia and the Dhaka-financed but not Dhaka-based furia. Some persons go into multiple business ventures. It seems that Dhankura exploits a greater share than average for permanent shop proprietorship and snack-food itinerant trading in the region.
What are the factors that help explain Dhankura's share in regional trading? Given that Dhankura is the UP headquarters it
commands a greater share of commerce than average for the Union. And given its proximity to the Dhaka-Aricha road, many business is facilitated. For these reasons, the Dhankura hat evolved into a bazaar with the opening of a series of permanent shops. But more significantly, Dhankura as a zamindari and Hindu centre historically commanded a large share of regional trade.
Certainly some of this share has dropped since the abolition of the zamindari. But the percentage of Hindus has remained higher than in other villages despite migration, and almost all the Hindus who have remained are Shahas who traditionally go into business.
Not only have the hereditary businesses of the Hindus been passed on, but the business patronage from Manikganj and elsewhere as well.