A Case Study on the Role of Jaggery and Its Derived Products for the Upliftment of the Farmers in the Kolhapur District of Maharashtra

Abstract

Jaggery is a traditional pre-processed sugar, which is popular in majority of the world. Jaggery industry has been considered as one of the small scale and cottage industry in India. The production of jaggery ranges between 5M tonnes to 7M tonnes. Maharashtra is one of the leading producers of jaggery .Large numbers of jaggery production units are located in state. Kolhapur is the main market for jaggery in the country as it stands 1st in terms of quality and 2nd in terms of quantity. Sugarcane seeds are preserved using age old techniques by the people of Kolhapur helping in the improvement of its quality. Kolhapur Jaggery contains no chemicals, is processed without use of any machinery making it completely organic. Jaggery making plants are generally small units fabricated by local artisans and run by villagers in different parts of India. These plants are usually small in size and are responsible for providing employment opportunities to thousands of people. More than 70% of the jaggery is produced in India but most of the jaggery business suffers from losses. The development of different value added products from jaggery and their commercial availability becomes need of the hour to sustain future profitability in the jaggery trade. For this reason setup of plants near the source of the product would help in reducing the operational difficulties and fetch good price for the farmers in the near future.