HYDERABAD: Mai Soomri of Village Bodlo Bhatti, Jacobabad district, has a stock of products she prepared weaving wheat straw, throughout the virus lockdown, hoping for a good return of her painstaking artisanal work.
After a near four-month gap, she claims to have finally got access to a major market in Karachi for selling her products, which were piled up at home.
Soomri is among a dozen of women in the locality, who beautifully weave baskets, plates, hand fans, hotpots and variety of other items, which some people use for their personal use, while others buy it for decorating their offices and homes.
These artisan women usually collect wheat straw during the months of February and March, when the crop maturea and they make different items to earn a little but comfortable living.
These women learn these skills from their mothers and grandmothers and pass the same down to their daughters and sisters to keep the practice alive.
Some women have exceled in their skills through training and have learnt how to refine the quality of their products and making items, other than the traditional ones to attract urban buyers.
Obviously, they get raw material free of cost or pay little for it to continue their work. In fact, these products have a local market, where they can easily be sold. But during this difficult time of lockdown they faced difficulties finding buyers. It is an irony they do not have financial aid or grant from the provincial government. Despite this, they have continued to practice their artisanship for their survival.
Though, it was a hard time for all artisan women to find markets, where they could have sold their valuable products, the skilled women of Village Bodlo Bhatti utilised their time purposefully and piled up products, which now are ready for sale.
“Now is the time to sell our products to earn little for survival,” Soomri said expressing hope.
In this testing time like other sectors, handicraft manufacturing work has also suffered a lot during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, which forced people to stay idle at home with all the markets strictly closed.
Handicraft sector also provides a source of employment to hundreds of people in rural areas of Sindh like agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors. But it is the most neglected in terms of marketing as well as getting financial support from the government institutions.
Majority of clusters in different areas were sitting idle due to non-availability of raw materials. Similarly, there was no demand from buyers.
A large number of artisans use parts of ordinary plants, tree leaves, sticks, wood, and clay to prepare beautiful products, which have economic value in small towns and major cities. Hundreds of families depend on these specific crafts for livelihood. They were waiting for the markets to open. Now, they have got access to market to sell their products after a long time and look optimistic for future.
Mai Rahiba of Khairpur district, another artisan woman, uses date palm leaves for making basketry and other items, which are quite different than those made with wheat straw.
Khairpur district is hub of date palm plantations, producing variety of healthy and nutritious date products. The artisan women have different tasks to get leaves of date palm gardens and weave for preparing quality products for market.
This year date palm orchards’ owners, traders, and workforce faced losses, because, during the harvest season, which starts in April and May, workers could not be mobilised to the plantations owing to the virus lockdown. Thus, mostly workers stayed homes, except a few workers, who found a way to reach and continued work. “I am receiving orders from Karachi market clients for supplying products and have started earning,” Rahiba said.
“In reality, some artisan women have been disappointed due to lingering lockdown, which has affected the business activities around them,” she said, adding it was a testing time to continue work and wait for the markets to open.
“Now the clients are demanding for the supply of these products,” she said.
Currently there is a huge demand from everywhere and the artisans do not have more stock to meet it, artisans told The News.
Qadir Bux Jani Soomro, who leads a famous blue pottery workshop in Hala Town, said they faced huge loss during the period of lockdown.
Blue pottery is considered heavy products and have specific market. He could not sell his stockpile because of low demand.
Abdul Majeed, who works at an Ajrak manufacturing workshop at Bhitshah, Matiari district, said initially they experienced problems, and had no idea how to continue this work during this difficult time.
“We did not know where to sell our stock prepared through engaging workforce during lockdown,” he said.
Initially, these Ajrak workshops offered little incentives to artisans to work at homes, hoping to see opening of market soon. They used entire available raw material for the purpose. But after delayed opening of the market, the workshop owners could not afford to invest more and discontinued the work for some time.
Thus, presently after easing of lockdown, they have started supplying products to their clients in Karachi and Hyderabad and getting returns. It was a ray of hope for continuing this business.
Besides a traditional shawl, Ajrak has different products, mostly dresses, bed sheet, table covers etc, which have a demand in urban market.
Shakeel Abro, director Sindh Indigenous and Traditional Crafts Company (Sitco), working with provincial culture department, said, “They are going to organise online exhibition for artisans, hopefully on August 14, 2020, depending on the situation”.
This exhibition may open the avenues for these craftspersons, who have potential to earn the country a good name through their traditional skills, Abro said.
“We have already started registering artisans in different crafts to promote their businesses,” he said, adding that they had arranged trainings for these craftspeople in different villages and towns.
Artisans from Tharparkar, Badin, Hyderabad, Matiari, Khairpur, Jacobabad and other districts contribute more to this handicraft sector, which has a specific market in the country and abroad.
Indeed, there is a challenge for some of the artisans to come forward to start online business at their stores and workshops. But ultimately they will have to be prepared for doing business and developing linkages to national and international markets.