SINDH HANDICRAFTS

HANDICRAFTS IN SINDH 

HANDICRAFT in Sindh was once a major source of livelihood for millions of people, majority of them women. But the rising cost of inputs, difficult access to credit and poor marketing network, have brought the industry to its present dismal state.

Handicrafts were mostly made by rural women inside their homes, who formed an active domestic labour force, and contributed over 50 per cent to their overall incomes.

“Nearly 65 per cent of women earned their livelihood from handicraft work. Now 90 per cent of these women are jobless,” said Nawab Pirzada, assistant chief of industries section in Sindh Planning and Development Department. These jobless women artisans had shifted to other trades, mainly agriculture and livestock breeding, he said.

The range of handicraft products include ajrak, ceramics, articles made of date leaves, farassi rugs, jandi, khes, musical instruments, caps, straw products, bangles, crucia work, embroideries, kashi, rilli, Thari carpets and woodcarving.

Handicraft making was so common that every house in Sindh was turned into a small workshop or cottage industry. But unfortunately, during the last 15-20 years, handicrafts production has witnessed a nose-dive because of falling demand, absence of strategic planning and vision for revival of the indigenous crafts, says Khair Mohammad, president Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

If cottage industries were set up at tehsil levels and locals were employed to produce new batches of artisans, it would have surely helped revive the traditional arts and handicrafts, he said.

“Falling profits vis-à-vis rising costs of materials has reduced the handicraft-making activity,” said Ahmed Raza Chandio, a Sukkur-based Ajrak maker.

He said there were some 700 ajrak makers but their number had reduced to 10-15 only.

An old cloth-weaver of Hala, Allah Bachayo Memon, recalling the heydays of the province`s handicraft industry, said there were around 10,000 workshops in Hala town alone, and thousands of cultural and traditional handicrafts were made and sold here every week. But, their number had dwindled now to a few.

“Besides Hala, a hub of handicrafts manufacturing, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Khairpur Mirs, Khanot, Matiari, Sekhat, Sehta, Badin, Thatta, Mithi and Nagarparkar were also flourishing handcrafts centres, where many people, over 70 per cent of them women, used to work and earn their livelihood through this craft,” said Memon

He blamed the Sindh Small Industrial Corporation for the plight of the industry as it failed to promote and effectively market the indigenous handicrafts at local and international levels. “The SSIC was established in early 1970s to explore new markets and strengthen Small Industrial Estates (SIEs).

Rampant corruption in SSIC and provincial industries department, and lack of government support to artisans ruined the once booming industry, complained Ejaz Ahmed, a prominent handicrafts trader in Karachi.

sindh handicrafts