Falling sugarcane output, juice yield push jaggery units to jeopardy in Karnataka

The drought in the state has been unsparing this year and there’s a spinoff effect on the jaggery-making units in the district. 

Jaggery output has been greatly affected due to a fall in sugarcane production due to drought. The yield of juice from the crop has been less than usual and this has added to the woes of the jaggery-making units. 

Jaggery is presently priced at Rs 5,000 a quintal in the market, as there is high demand for it, particularly the organic variety.

Health-conscious people prefer jaggery over sugar as a sweetener these days. 

Many units close down

The sugarcane farmers too aren’t a happy lot as their returns have reduced by about half.

Villages on the Belagavi-Bagalkot road on the outskirts of the city had over 100 jaggery-making units.

Their numbers are coming down with each passing year due to manpower issues and farmers’ preference to send their produce to sugar factories.

This crushing year, there are just four jaggery-making units at Sambra village. With a deep slide on the supply side due to the drought, they may not be able to produce jaggery even up to March 24, the day of Holi festival, when the sugarcane season ends.  

Sambra alone had 22 jaggery-making units in the past. Farmers have cultivated sugarcane on 3.08 lakh hectares in the district this season.

Jyotiba Jui, who runs a unit at Sambra, said, “We commenced jaggery making this season in November. The sugarcane produce has been drastically low this year. Earlier, from the produce on each acre, we could manufacture 60 quintals of jaggery. At the then price of Rs 4,000 per quintal, we earned Rs 2.4 lakh per acre. With jaggery production falling by half, our earnings too will see a dip.”

Also, there aren’t many labourers available these days, he said. 

“We need a minimum of 16 people for the whole process, starting from crushing sugarcane to loading jaggery for transportation. They have to report for work at dawn and wages are just Rs 300 per day,” Jui said. 

Despite the hike is jaggery prices to Rs 5,000 per quintal, farmers aren’t getting expected returns as drought has affected the juice recovery from sugarcane, said farmer Papanna Jui.

“The government must come to our help as sugarcane yield has reduced due to drought. Despite good prices for jaggery, we are not getting good returns. Some farmers prefer to sell sugarcane to jaggery units as they get quick returns and need not wait for sugar factories to clear dues,” farmer Channayyaswamy Mathad said.