Prospect of papadam brightens

Papadam, popularly known as ‘papar,’ — a snack eaten garnished with accompaniments by the people of the Indian subcontinent — has been commercially produced in Dinajpur.

Papadam is a flatbread made from dried dough of black gram bean flour, either fried or cooked with dry heat (flipped over an open flame) until crunchy. Other flours made from lentil, chickpea, rice, millet or potato are also used.

Papadam is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka or as an appetiser, often with a dip such as chutneys or toppings such as chopped onions and chillies, or they may be garnished with tasting salt.

Dinajpur has been producing the popular and tasty food since 1942 after a couple Lakkhan Singh and Urmila Singh started making papar at home and sold it locally. However, papadam became a commercial success when another couple Mahabir Singh and Mongola Devi Singh started producing it commercially and created a distribution system in the then East and West Pakistan.

Suvash Singh, a papadam baker at Chawkbazar in Dinajpur city, said over 50,000 locals, mostly women, make 80 lakh to 1 crore of sheets of papadam each day. They earn Tk 25 for making 100 pieces of papadam, and each kg of the snack is sold at Tk 200. They said Dinajpur is the only district in the country which produces the delicacy commercially.

Ramesh Gupta and Umesh Saha, who are involved in the production and marketing of papadam, told The Business Post that they were struggling financially when they opted for the business. As papadam is easy to make and requires a small investment, they have chosen to engage in this business.

They said they make dough with different lentil flour mix and spices such as black pepper, oil, salt and other ingredients. After kneading the dough for a while, they give it a disc-like shape and dry them under the sun for half an hour as it reaches the desired texture. With one kg of the kneaded dough, 100 pieces of papadams can be made.

Alongside the male bakers, some women in the district have opted for making papadam and found them empowered, said Lucky, Sabitri Devi and Rukmini Shanta.

“I was poor and jobless. Inspired by some women in my locality, I started making papadam in my house. Since then, I have become self-reliant and have been supporting my family,” said Sabitri Devi, a regular papadam maker of Chawkbazar — the biggest market in Dinajpur city.

“Hundreds of women like me are now involved in the papadam industry. It’s best for them as it requires low investment and can be made in the comfort of their homes,” said Lucky while delivering her papadams in a local market.

Meanwhile, the producers said they make a huge amount of papadams that can be easily exported abroad after meeting the local demand.

Addressing the issue, President of Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Reza Humayun Faruk Chowdhury told The Business Post that they had arranged a training programme for 25 female papadam makers recently, emphasising on the prospect of exporting the food product abroad.

Dinajpur Deputy Commissioner Khaled Mohammad Zaki said, “We are planning to install machines that can make the production process easy, more efficient and high-yielding.