Though the jaggery units in the Anakapalle district and surrounding areas operate from October, a major chunk of the jaggery starts arriving at the market from December onwards and goes on till April.
“We have seen only 6,000 to 8,000 jaggery lumps arriving a day. We had seen 10,000 to 14,000 jaggery lumps arriving in a day in the previous season. Jaggery’s fortunes will continue to be on the decline in coming years,” said Sharath Kumar KV, a third-generation trader in the jaggery trade at Anakapalle.
The whole economy of Anakapalle and surrounding localities are dependent on the jaggery trade. If the jaggery market drops, then the economy in the region will also drop, he added.
The major reason for the drop in jaggery production was the switchover of sugarcane farmers and jaggery makers from parts of Anakapalle and Vizianagaram district to other crops following the bitter returns in the past few years, the traders said. Secretary of Anakapalle jaggery market, D Shankuntala attributed the drop to jaggery makers giving up production.
Jaggery farmers are awaiting the announcement of a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,000 per 100 kg of jaggery. At present the jaggery makers are getting Rs 4,200 per 100 kg for special quality, Rs 3,650 for gold, Rs 3,530 for brown, and Rs 3,080 for black varieties.
“Due to competition from other crops, the sugarcane farmers are gradually switching over to other crops. The area under sugarcane cultivation is 8,218 hectares under Chodavaram co-operative sugar factory,” said Deputy Cane Commissioner, Anakapalle, K Lokeswar.
“Sugarcane is sweet but the returns in the jaggery trade are bitter as we have been incurring losses in the jaggery trade. We will switch over to the commercial crops instead of making jaggery,” said G Naidu.
