Heavy rain at Marayur and Kanthallur grama panchayats has affected jaggery production there with most of the traditional units remaining closed for over a week. In jaggery production, ‘poru’ (dried sugarcane) is used for heating the cauldron. “It is kept in the open area to dry, a process now hindered by constant rain,” said Somasekharan, a sugarcane farmer at Kovilkadavu. The quality of sugarcane juice, which is used to make jaggery, is also affected by the rain.
Marayur and Kanthallur areas are in the rainshadow region and only the northeast monsoon makes an impact there. In the traditional units, only dried sugarcane is used to heat the cauldron and the production is stopped when it rains heavily.
GI tag
Jaggery is produced throughout the year as sugarcane is harvested as and when the crop is ready at various fields. Harvesting is stopped when it rains a lot. Marayur jaggery is known for its quality and the State government is trying to fetch for the product the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The average price for a 60-kg pack ₹3,000 and farmers say price fluctuation is a concern for them. “The cost of production and wages have increased considerably. Production will be profitable only if the pack fetches more than ₹3,500,” said Mr. Somasekharan.
The arrival of low quality produce from Tamil Nadu in the jaggery market has also brought down the demand for Marayur jaggery. Blocking the arrival of jaggery from Tamil Nadu is a long-pending demand of the farmers. Even if production falls, the price does not increase because of the presence of the poor quality fare in the market, they say.
