Problems and Prospects of Handloom Industries: A Regional Study

The handloom textile industry, one of the significant labor-contributing industries in Bangladesh, provides income and employment opportunities for a sizable section of rural labor. However, in recent years, the handloom textile industry has been experiencing several problems in its production. The residents of three Upazilas in the Sirajganj district rely directly or indirectly on this sector. This study will examine the issues and opportunities of the handloom industry in three Upazilas of the Sirajganj district in Bangladesh. The district of Sirajganj was chosen as a purposive sample and used the multistage random sampling method of fifty handloom units from twenty villages in Ullapara, Shahajdpur, and Belkuchi Upazila. The Cobb-Douglas production function is used to identify in this case to assess the variables' impact on the Handloom sector's annual income. Labor, input, and education coefficient is significant at 1 percent of the level. On the other hand, capital has negatively impacted the handloom industries and is also not statistically significant. Despite experience positively impacting the handloom weaver's income, it does not influence statistically significant. The estimated capital coefficient of -0.208, and the approximate labor cost is 25.73. Major problems of the handloom industry in the high rate of fabrics and colors. These results suggest that labor is a vital part of the handloom industry and with the posting of workers, handloom output rises as well.