Kakinada: Jaggery tastes bitter to makers in Covid times
Workers busy in preparation and packaging of jaggery in a factory in Kakinada
Kakinada: The jaggery production as well as sale has received a body blow due to the pandemic hitting hard both traders and sugarcane growers in in East Godavari district.
During this season there could to be a bumper production of jaggery, nearly 1,000 tonnes per day, in the district. But owing to the pandemic, the production has sharply come down to 45 tonnes a day because of the declining sales. Since the production has gone down, the workers associated with the jaggery industry are also deprived of their livelihood.
There is a steep competition in the jaggery business in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other States. A trader N Raghu told 'The Hans India' that the export of jaggery has been adversely affected due to Covid in the district. And traders are suffering heavy losses in the absence of export.
He stated that one tonne of jaggery costs Rs 36,000. Referring to the escalating labour charges, he said that each worker is paid Rs 500 per day. Generally, they export jaggary to Tanuku, Narasaraopet, Guntur and other areas in the state. The partial lockdown is causing a lot of hardship to jaggery traders.
Significantly, where paddy is not grown, the farmers cultivate sugarcane and supply it to jaggery makers. Because of the present crisis, sugarcane growers are also affected. A farmer Kamparapu Nageswar Rao of Kirlampudi in East Godavari district said that the lockdown caused immense loss to the production of sugarcane and the farmers are very much affected.
He said that sugarcane is cultivated in certain areas like Divili and Kandrakota in Peddapuram mandal, Geddanapalli, Thimmapuram, Tamarada villages in Kirlampudi mandal and Jaggampet mandal in the district.
The yield would be 35-40 quintals of jaggery per acre and one quintal jaggery is sold for Rs 3,400 to 3,500. And 60 per cent of the sale proceedings go towards crushing, packing, boxes and other charges.
The jiggery traders demanded the government to extend subsidies to the manufacturers to provide quality jaggery in the market.