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Saturday, Jan 12, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Jan 12, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
For the Festival: A worker busy at a jaggery manufacturing unit in Echankal near Vaniyambadii . — VANIYAMBADI: Though Pongal is round the corner, the jaggery units at Echankal near Vaniyambadi in Vellore district are incurring loss. According to Srinivasan, owner of a unit, there are five jaggery units in Echankal. They were incurring loss as some States had banned the sale of arrack. Jaggery was produced from the 86032-variety sugarcane. Molasses was processed from sugarcane that had reached a cultivation period of 10 months. The recovery of jaggery was high in this specific variety of cane. Even the sugar mills, which processed the 86032 variety of cane, achieved a good recovery rate, he said. The jaggery units functioned three times in a year. Demand would be at its peak during January and February when good quality jaggery reaches the market for the Pongal festival. Sugarcane cultivated for eight to 10 months were being used for the production of jaggery. The jaggery from Echankal had good demand in Kerala as the units did not mix chemicals during the production process. Jaggery was also sold in the local markets in Vaniyambadi and the adjoining villages. Mr. Srinivasan said that the units had capacity to produce a sizeable amount of jaggery, which was being sold to the local ‘mandis.’ From there, it was transported to the other States. Though the mandis managed to get a good commission on the produce, the producers got minimum profit. For producing 50 kg of jaggery, the units need at least two hours. The units also spend 45 minutes to one hour to crush the sugarcane. On the present market rate, he said that 100 kg of jaggery fetched between Rs. 900 and Rs. 1,000. The mandis sold 100 kg to the retailers for Rs.1,200. One kg of jaggery was sold for Rs.15 in the local market. The units did not get a good profit margin. The State government was aware of the situation and it should come forward to help the producers, Mr. Srinivasan said. This year, the price of a quintal of jaggery was less compared to the corresponding period last year. One quintal was priced at Rs.750. During the corresponding period last year, one quintal was sold for Rs. 1,500. “This being the situation, how do you expect the units to survive,” Mr. Srinivasan asked. On the other hand, the sugar mills paid a better price for sugarcane. Last year, the mills procured one tonne of sugarcane for Rs.1,160. They were offering Rs.1,200 a tonne this year. But the problem faced by cane cultivators was that the mills did not give the correct cutting order. Mr. Srinivasan said that to produce one quintal of jaggery, the production cost incurred was Rs.300. Though the producers realised Rs.150 to Rs.200 on a quintal of jaggery, a major portion of the money was spent as cultivation cost.
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