After entering the Railway Market area in Bogura city, you will see rows of tin-roofed workshops buzzing with activity. These are light engineering workshops, where small teams of three to four workers are busy crafting machines and parts. This is where most of the agricultural machinery used across the country is made, meeting around 80 percent of national demand.

These workshops have also become a source of employment for nearly 30,000 people. Beyond serving the local market, some of the machinery is even being exported in small quantities abroad.

The story of Bogura's light engineering industry goes back quite a while. It all began in 1965 when non-Bengali entrepreneurs first set up small manufacturing units, mainly focused on hand-operated tools. But it wasn't until the 1980s that local Bengali entrepreneurs took things forward, helping the industry grow.

Over time, the industry expanded beyond the city center into areas like Gohail Road, Chilimpur, Bishwaroad, Charmatha, Phulbari, Koloni, BSCIC (industrial zone), Banani, and Chelopara. Today, the SME Foundation has officially recognized this growing network of businesses as a "cluster," focusing on three main categories: engineering workshops, agricultural machinery producers, and foundries.

Many entrepreneurs here started small, with only a few BDT lakh. Now, some are seeing annual turnovers in the tens of millions.

Ariful Islam, the owner of AP Metal Industries in Baghopara, said, "I started in 2018 with just BDT 700000. Today, my annual income is around BDT 120 million. We supply our products to 55 districts across the country. This is a promising sector, and the government should support it more. If loan interest rates were lower, investment in this sector could grow even more."

According to the SME Foundation, the Bogura cluster now includes around 700 engineering workshops, 500 agricultural machinery and parts manufacturers, and 75 foundries. Together, these businesses have turned the region into a hub for producing alternatives to imported machinery. The cluster now boasts an annual turnover of nearly BDT 20 billion.

Local entrepreneurs say that Bogura's light engineering industry has great potential, and the area already offers many facilities for business growth. However, there are still some challenges that need attention. One major issue is that the factories are spread out across different locations. Bringing them together in one organized space would help the industry grow more efficiently.

Golam Azam, president of the Bogura Light Engineering Foundation, explained, "Most of the products made here are agricultural machines. But we face some barriers. What we need is an economic zone where we can produce world-class machinery. That way, we'll have more opportunities to export our products, reduce production costs, and deliver high-quality items to customers at lower prices."

The light engineering factories in Bogura use various raw materials, such as brass, cast iron, pig iron, aluminum, MS plates, carbon steel, silicon, manganese, hard coke, and furnace oil. They use machines like lathes, milling machines, shaping machines, planers, grinders, honing machines, and crankshaft tools.

Some of the common products made here include rice threshers, sawmills, oil presses, puffed rice machines, centrifugal pumps, tube wells, fabricated metal parts, power tiller parts, feed machines, liners, pistons, gudgeon pins, bushes, 62/4 shafts, and diesel engine parts.

Since 2015, the SME Foundation has supported the Bogura Light Engineering Cluster. To help entrepreneurs grow, the foundation has provided training in business management, accounting, melting and molding techniques, and heat and surface treatment. It has also offered loans totaling nearly BDT 90 million.

Mushfiqur Rahman, the chairperson of the SME Foundation, raised an important concern: "The workers here often work in dangerous conditions. There's always a risk of serious accidents. That's why it's so important to raise awareness about safety. We need to work closely with both workers and business owners. The government also needs to step up its monitoring in this area."