Ahead of Pongal, price of jaggery goes up

There are more than 100 units in operation in Papanasam-Ayyampettai belt

Sweet produce: A worker arranging freshly-prepared jaggery at a unit near Papanasam in Thanjavur district.

All is set for the freshly-prepared cast jaggery to hit the market ahead of the Pongal festive season in Thanjavur district. Papanasam region, famed for its numerous cast jaggery producing units, is witnessing frenetic activity but producers say that the price this year is relatively higher than that which prevailed last year.

Bhogi, Pongal and Maattu Pongal sees a large consumption of jaggery as people celebrate the harvest festival as a thanksgiving endeavour to the Sun God and to the cattle which help them in the farm chores. Naturally, the producers flood the market with freshly-prepared cast jaggery which is famous in the Thanjavur area.

``While jaggery production has withstood the times of change though the sugar cane mills had almost wiped out the jaggery units, the unique taste and flavour has helped jaggery retain its aura among the people, especially the rural populace,’’ points out K. Sivaloganathan, a jaggery producer belonging to Udumalpet but manufacturing jaggery at Kabisthalam near here.

In fact, the Papanasam-Ayyampettai belt including Papanasam, Ayyampettai, Iluppakorai, Mahalipuram, Ullikadai, Krishnapuram, Ganapathy Agraharam, Manalur, Devankudi, Veeramangudi, Someswarapuram, Semmangudi and Pattukudi still have cast jaggery production units where they process sugarcane juice into jaggery, as cottage industry.

Mostly, the cast jaggery produced in this belt is despatched in truck loads to the major jaggery market in Neikkaranpatti near Palani in Dindigul district. Though manufacturing takes place round the year, the peak season is December-January and the produce is sold to traders from all over the country at Neikkaranpatti.

More than a dozen group of people from Udumalpet have settled in the Papanasam-Ayyampettai belt just for producing cast jaggery.

The Neikkaranpatti shandy meets every Wednesday and Friday.

The arrivals at the shandy have been rather heavy this year, the jaggery manufacturers stress but also point to the hike in sales which has resulted in the price of a 30 kg ‘Sippam’ fetching the producers ₹1,300. The same quantum was sold for only ₹1,000 last festive season, they said.